The Pentagon Wants A Drone That Disintegrates In Sunlight

The drone must be able to travel 93 miles (150km) and able to drop a package weighing less than three lbs ( 1.4kg) onto a target measuring no more than 33 feet (10metres). A diagram of a landing zone is shown

Daily Mail: The 'vampire' drone that disappears in sunlight: Pentagon calls for design that drops payloads at night, before vanishing without a trace

* Icarus program is named after boy in Greek myth who flew close to the sun
* Aims to develop drones capable of carrying a small payload that 'vanish within four hours of payload delivery or within 30 minutes of ...twilight'
* There's a possibility that a final design may disappear in a puff of smoke
* Remains from the craft must be no larger than a grain of sand

Drones can drop supplies to hidden Special Forces or essential medical kit in warzones, but there’s the risk that their presence may give away the recipient’s location, or that the technology ends up in enemy hands.

To solve this problem, the Pentagon is calling for designs for ‘vampire’ drones that disappear in daylight.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is funding a new project to develop aircraft that can ‘fully vanish within four hours of payload delivery or within 30 minutes of morning civil twilight (assuming a night drop), whichever is earlier’.

WNU Editor: It looks like someone in the Pentagon and/or in the intelligence community wants a weapon system that will eliminate any trace that it was there.

More News On The Pentagon Wanting To Develop Drones That Disintegrate in Sunlight

The Military Is Creating Vampire Drones That Die in the Sun -- Defense One
The Pentagon Is Developing Disappearing Drones -- Fiscal Times
'Vampire Drones': Pentagon Planning Design Of Disappearing Drones -- HNGN
'Vampire' Drones ICARUS: Pentagon to Create UAVs That Vanish in Sun -- Sputnik