[tt] Review of Darpa "Metabolically Dominant Soldier" program

[Hughes, James J.]

http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.html


July 16, 2008


$3 billion super soldier program: 10 times muscle endurance, 7 foot
vertical leap, wall crawling, personal flight and more 


DARPA today has a long-term, $3 billion program to help make such a
"Metabolically Dominant Soldier." In other words, the military is
studying how to use technology and biology to meld man and machine and
transcend the limits of the human body. Described the project director, 
"My measure of success is that the International Olympic Committee bans
everything we do"
<http://www.darpa.mil/darpatech2002/presentations/dso_pdf/speeches/GOLDB
LAT.pdf>  The $3 billion program is definitely trying to achieve
transhuman performance goals.

The wearable gear would enable running at 100 meter olympic sprinter
speed for hours and the 7 foot vertical leap, the wall crawling,
personal flight, invisibility, greatly enhanced strength, better body
armor and carrying bigger and more powerful weapons.

The drugs and genetic enhancements and some technology which gets
applied would allow for regeneration, faster healing
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l> , muscle strength enhancement up to current olympic levels, endurance
of an Alaskan sled dog, cognitive enhancement, operate without sleep for
many days without performance degradation, the metabolic energy of
twenty year old for a forty or fifty year old and immunity to pain
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l> .

The Metabolically Dominant Soldier program is managed by Joe Bielitzki.
He is talking about fixing your cells so that you could live off your
fat. Bielitzki acknowledges the potential for spin-off technologies.
"Forty billion dollars a year goes into the weight loss
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l>  industry in this country," he muses. "This will change it." 

Regeneration, better healing, better immune systems
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l>  would all revolutionize healthcare costs and healthcare
effectiveness. So trillions in economic benefit as a side effect of
supersoldier success. DARPA is also trying to enhance cognition,
training and giving the energy levels of youth to the elderly
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l> . Those could provide multi-billion or even trillion dollar per year
boosts to the US and world economy.

Projects in pipeline range from drugs that will boost muscles and energy
by a factor of 10, akin to steroids...on steroids (the project is
jokingly termed the "Energizer Bunny in Fatigues") to wearable, cooling
gloves that regulate body temperature and prevent soldiers from getting
overheated (and thus tired) even on the hottest desert day. [Keeping the
body cool increases endurance]

This program is going well beyond some current relatively safe and
conservative forms of performance enhancement. [Safer SARM/steroids,
endurance enhancing drink]
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/safe-human-enhancement-of-strength.htm
l> 

A major focus is on helping the soldier's body to better deal with
trauma and damage. One such is the "pain vaccines" coming out of a
program at Rinat Neuroscience [Pfizer acquired Rinat Neuroscience in
2006
<http://www.lifescience-online.com/Pfizer_to_Expand_Neuroscience_Researc
h_With_Acquis,473.html?portalPage=Lifescience+Today.News> ]. Researchers
are hopeful these "will block the sense of pain for almost a month,"
describes DARPA's Michael Goldblatt.

The substance does is block intense pain in less than 10 seconds.
<http://www.garreau.com/main.cfm?action=chapters&id=53>  Its effects
last for 30 days. It doesn't stifle your reactions. If you touch a hot
stove, you still have the initial shock; your hand will still
automatically jerk away. But after that, the torment is gone. The
product works on the inflammatory response
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l>  that is responsible for the majority of subacute pain. If you get
shot, you feel the bullet, but after that, the inflammation
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l>  and swelling that trigger agony are substantially reduced. The
company has already hit its first milestones in animal testing and is
preparing reports for scientific conferences.

Army Soldier enhancement systems
<http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2008/0502_iron_man_singer.aspx> 

The plan is for new body armor that, instead of Kevlar, is filled with
nano-materials that are connected to a computer. [Computer controlled
liquid armor] It would normally be as flexible as regular uniform made
of fabric. But, like how a crash-bag works inside a car, it would
activate whenever the system detects a bullet strike and turn as hard as
steel in an instant. 

Gloves could turn into real-life brass knuckles.

The fabric could even be woven in with "nanomuscle fibers" that simulate
real muscles, giving soldiers more an estimated "25 to 35 percent better
lifting capability." So myostatin strength boost to get to olympic
athlete strength levels and then 25-35% boost from a soft suit. Use
better exoskeletons for more strength enhancement.