DARPA, the Pentagon's mad science division, got a $324 million boost in the Defense Department's new budget -- a ten percent increase. Which means lots more cash for giant blimps, next-gen wireless networks, Mach 6 planes, shape-shifting drones, and improvised bomb-beaters.
One of the biggest changes in DARPA's budget for the next fiscal year is the ramping up of the Blackswift project. The agency will dump $70 million next year into a joint effort with the Air Force to build an aircraft that can go six times the speed of sound -- and land on a runway, just like a normal plane. The idea is to use a combination of turbines and ramjets to fly so quickly. But it won't be easy. Outside of a few demonstration projects, pretty much the only things that go that fast today are ICBMs and spaceships, taking off and returning to earth.
The agency is also pushing on with its efforts to put together the pieces for a giant, robotic spy blimp that will hover in the air for up to a year at a time. Funds for the "Integrated Sensor is Structure" (ISIS) program jump from $29 to $44 million next year, with the goal of tracking "rockets, artillery, and mortars," as well as "dismounted enemy combatant[s]" -- individual soldiers, from 65,000 feet up. Eventually, this is all supposed to be done from a unmanned airship big enough to fit a battleship inside.
"Tactical technology" projects get an extra $35 million, for a total of $371 million. That includes $4 million for a new effort, "Silversword," which aims to use gigawatts of microwave power to fry the electronics inside remotely-triggered bombs. $6.6 million will go to specialized nets, designed to catch rocket-propelled grenades before they strike. And
$11.6 million will go to "C-Sniper" -- DARPA's laser-based program to find snipers before they fire.
DARPA is also adding $36 million more to its "Advanced aerospace"
projects, for a total of $107 million. The Oblique Flying Wing -- the agency's shape-shifting, cockeyed, supersonic drone project -- clocks in at $29.5 million. Another $11 million goes to "Vulture," an aircraft that could stay aloft for five years, without landing. $15.9 million is slated for the rocket-powered "Rapid Eye" spy drone.
Another $75 million is pumped into "command and control" efforts, in the new DARPA budget. One of the biggest-ticket items in the $53
million "Optical & RF Combined Link Experiment"
-- ORCLE, for short. The idea is to put together radio frequency and optical data links, to let commandos talk in areas where there ain't exactly a ton of cell towers -- think the Hindu Kush. At the end of the effort, there's supposed to be a "prototype demonstration" where a vehicle on the ground communicates with an aircraft loitering 50
kilometers away. It'll then relay information to second aircraft 200 kilometers further back, which can then plug into the larger military grid.
But not everything in the DARPA budget got bumped up. The agency's much-ballyhooed efforts at "Cognitive Computing" took at $30 million cut, to $145 million. Which could mean that even the Pentagon's most wide-eyed visionaries see thinking machines are still far, far off in the distance.
(Image: PopSci; special thanks to Inside Defense for the budget numbers)
