How can small science help us to protect such a big country?

1. Nanotechnology in Defense
Sector
Sumeet Brar
sumeetbrarlande@gmail.com

2. How can small science help us protect such
a big country?
• From the east coast to the west coast, from
the north to the south, from the army to the
navy, from the air force to the coast guards

3. Impact of Nanotechnology on
Defense
• With the highly promising expectations of nanotechnology for new
innovative products, materials and power sources it is evident that
nanotechnology can bring many innovations into the defence world.
In order to assess how these nanotechnology developments can or
will impact upon future military operations, the Defence R&D
Organisation has requested to compile a nanotechnology road map
for military applications.

4. Nanotechnology in National Defense
• What can nanotechnology do for the military?
Nanotechnology research in the different
areas can help the military

5. NANO-ARMOR
• Another method for creating super strong materials uses tungsten,
not carbon, for the basic material.
• It is five times stronger than steel and at least twice as strong as any
impact-resistant material currently in use as protective gear. It has
withstood the equivalent of dropping four diesel locomotives onto
an area the size of a fingernail.
• Possible applications for this new nano material are ballistic
protection personal body armor, bullet proof vests, vehicle armor,
shields, helmets, and protective enclosures.

6. Nanotechnology for the soldier
• Nanotechnology enables high strength,
durable, sensoric and active materials.
 Lightweight protective clothes: flexible
antiballistic textiles, self BC
decontaminating nanofiber fabric,
 Adaptive suit: switchable fabric for
improved thermal control, microsensors
for body & brain sensing, environmental
and situational awareness, to be integrated
into a smart suit or helmet, wearable and
flexible displays for visual feedback ,
 Auxiliary supports: flexible/rigid textiles
for additional, strength, exoskeletons and
robotics to assist the human tasks.

7. Waterproof and Bullet-proof Vests
• One of the first advancements
that came out of the center was
developed by Prof. Karen
Gleason.
• She and her researchers were
able to create ultra hydrophobic
surfaces (waterproof) using a
technique called chemical vapor
deposition (CVD).
• With CVD they could deposit
nano layers of Teflon (yes, the
same stuff that’s on your frying
pan) on Kevlar panels, the
material used to make bullet-
proof vests.

8. An Invisibility Cloak?
• Though far from becoming a reality,
researchers are making strides in
optical negative-index metamaterials
(NIM) to make objects invisible.
• Metamaterials are typically man-
made to have properties that cannot
be found in nature.
• Optical NIM have the ability to bend
light in ways different from
conventional materials.
• Professor Vladimir Shalaev at Purdue
University is studying nanostructured
composites to create these
metamaterials.
• Beyond the invisibility ability, these
structures also have applications in
microscopes, circuits, and antennae.

10. Body Armor
• The new nano-armor is called “smart body armor”.
It weaves thin pads or cloth from fibers that can
sense the impact of a bullet or shrapnel and
automatically stiffen. This material would be even
more resistant to penetration and less cumbersome
than the ceramic-plate armor troops wear now.
• Concerns about biochemical-warfare have resulted
in exploration into nano-size umbrellas that open
to seal the cloth's pores, making it impervious to
airborne chemicals and pathogens. That would be
much easier and lighter than the current equipment
required.

11. Smart helmet
Essential part of the future soldier’s combat gear will be the smart
helmet. This smart helmet consists of a helmet as a platform system
equipped with an intelligent multi sensor system for various tasks:
 Optical/IR camera (360° vision)
 RF array antennas for positioning, friend, RFID and directed low
power and efficient communication,
 Acoustic arrays (microphones),
 B/C sensor arrays as early warning system,
 Wireless EEG sensor.
The use of micro system and nanotechnology for these sensors will
reduce weight of the equipment which is now attached or mounted
on the helmet, creating lesser physical loading on the head.

13. Anti-ballistic materials for
helmet

14. Smart Fabrics/ Nano-Fibers/Nano-
Medicine
• The immune system plays a
critical role in the health of the
war fighter, by protecting troops
from regional diseases (e.g.,
malaria) and combating
opportunistic local or systemic
infections that are a constant
threat accompanying trauma.
• Imagine uniforms that can
diagnose and treat a soldier in
the field, no doctor needed. The
development on the next slide is
the first step in achieving that
goal.

15. Nanosensors
Nanotechnology can help!
 “With their small size, light weight, and large reactive surface area…
engineered nanostructures have been shown to improve – by orders of
magnitude – sensitivity, selectivity, and response time of sensor
technology (thereby providing an advantage over slower, more costly,
laboratory-based analytical methods), and to dramatically reduce size,
weight and power requirements of the resulting monitoring devices
compared to the conventional, macroscaled alternatives.”
 Detection of multiple chemical species
Conventional chemical sensors are optimized to detect a single
chemical – some nanosensor designs are capable of detecting a target
chemical amongst multiple chemical species because they allow for
numerous sensors within a single monitoring device.
Each nanosensor is chemically coated or decorated with
functional groups that can recognize a specific chemical or biological
agent.

16. Nanotechnology for Vehicles
• Lightweight: high strength nanocomposite
plastics are foreseen to replace metal and by
this reduce weight and radar signature,
• Smart components: components with built-
in condition and load monitoring sensors, on
long term: self repairing or self healing
materials,
• Adaptive structures: active structures that
adapt to changing conditions such as
adaptive camouflage, suspension, flexible/
rigid etc,
• Stealth: radar absorption coatings,
camouflage,
• Armour: nanoparticle, nanofiber reinforced
antiballistic structures, reactive nanoparticle
armour, shock absorbing nanotube.

17. Nanotechnology for Naval Vessels
• Lightweight: high strength nanocomposite plastics are foreseen to
replace metal and by this reduce weight and signature,
• Smart components: components with built-in condition and load
monitoring sensors, on long term self repairing, self healing
materials,
• Adaptive structures: active structures that adapt to changing
conditions such as adaptive aqua dynamics, flexible/rigid etc

18. Power & ICT
• Focus is on lightweight and energy efficient powering. Reduction of
thermal, radar and acoustic signature is for the military an additional
aspect. Main developments are:
 All electric vessel enabling very low signature,
 Hydrogen fuel cell,
 For miniaturised, unmanned vessels: μ-fuel cell.
• Vessels are expected to be equipped with the following ICT
features:
 position sensing and signalling: nanoscopic air bubble, guidance and
gyros navigation sensors for navigation and sensing,
 Identification: RFID - tags for remote identification,
 Security: μ-radar and μ-acoustic arrays for surveillance,

19. Nanotechnology for Aeronautics
• Lightweight: high strength nanocomposite plastics and bio mimic
(human bone type) structures to reduce weight and radar signature,
• Smart components: components with built-in condition and load
monitoring sensors, such as fiber bragg, on long term self repairing,
healing materials,
• Adaptive structures: active structures that adapt to changing
conditions such as adaptive aerodynamics, adaptive skin,
• Stealth: radar absorption coatings, thermal camouflage,
• High energetic propellants: e.q. nano dispersed aluminum as
propellant agent.

20. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

21. Nano Air Vehicle
• AeroVironment, based out of
Monrovia, CA, has developed their
Nano Hummingbird under a DARPA
research contract.
• On February 17, 2011, they
announced they had reached a major
milestone, “controlled precision
hovering and fast-forward flight of a
two-wing, flapping wing aircraft that
carries its own energy source, and
uses only the flapping wings for
propulsion and control.”
• One weighs no more than 10g and can
carry a payload of up to 2g.

23. Nanotechnology for Weapon
Systems
• Developments in weapon technology take place both in the direction
of more lethal as well as non-lethal weapons. For lethal weapons the
focus is on precision targeting, minimum weight and signature,
optimal impact damage. Cheap, onboard intelligence is needed.
Non-lethal weapons, to neutralize the enemy temporarily, are
relatively new and evolving. They usually make use of energy
waves in different forms, directed by array technology. Non lethal
weapons are also of interest to civil security services and the police.

24. Materials
• Nanotechnology enables the following material functionalities:
 High strength plastics and nanocomposite lightweight mate rials: high
strength (nanocomposite) plastics,
 High strength stealth biomimic materials to reduce weight and radar
signature,
 Radar absorption materials,
 Smart skin materials: materials with built-in condition and firing
monitoring sensors,
 Super penetrator materials: nanostructured cone materials that sharpen
upon impact or give additional damage,
 High energetic propellants: e.q. nano dispersed aluminum as propellant
agent,
 Quantum structures for small and efficient directed energy weapons such
as directed microwave and high energy directed laser systems,
 Anti-kick back systems.

25. Nanotechnology for Satellites
• For military use the swarms of micro satellites can fulfill functions
such as observation, inspection, anti-satellite, communication etc.
and will be connected to the information gathering and control
system. Advantages of small high integrated modular satellites for
military purposes are that they can be used as destruction satellites,
spy satellites and they can be part of a swarm of satellites, launched
at the same time. Destruction (anti satellite) and spy satellites can
stick themselves on large satellites without seeing and can destruct
important parts of the satellite or it can intercept the communication
or observations. Swarm formation flying can give high resolution
observations.
• The following classification exists:
 minisatellite 50 – 500 kg
 microsatellite 10 – 50 kg
 nanosatellite 1 – 10 kg
 picosatellite < 1 kg

26. Materials
• Nanotechnology enables the following material functionalities:
 Lightweight: high strength nanocomposites & structures to reduce
weight,
 Nanomaterial enabled solar panels, deployers and actuators,
 Smart materials for energy solutions and strcuctures,
 High energetic propellants: e.q. nano dispersed aluminum as
propellant agent.

27. Power & Payload
• Focus is on lightweight and high energy powering. Main
developments are:
 nanocomposite and high energetic materials,
 lightweight, flexible and efficient photovoltaic solar cells,
 for mini to picosatellites: μ-fuel cell, μ-thrusters.
• Payload :
 radio communication, position, motion and guidance sensors,
 μ-instrumentation: x-ray, bolometer, optical and rf inter ferometer,
lab-on-chip, camera,
 security and guidance: μ-radar, μ-bolometer (infrared).

28. Warfare
Nuclear Weapons Nano-built Weapons
Hard to build Easy to build
Easy to monitor Hard to monitor
Hard to deliver Easy to deliver

29. Conclusion
Warfare has been an unavoidable aspect of human survival. The onset
of technology in the defense sector, though resulting in better
warfare techniques with the intention of reducing the mortality rates
and the grievances associated with them, has ironically created more
lethal weapons for their destruction. Nanotechnology has further
solidified the need for safer yet more high-impact weaponry due to
the unique properties associated with nanomaterials. In the right
hands, this could enable a better tomorrow. In the wrong ones, there
might not be a tomorrow