The Pentagon plans to use synthetic, changed at the genetic level life forms for military purposes. In particular, it is supposed to “teach” marine organisms to develop special indicators when passing enemy war ships, and also to create a “living” camouflage and self-healing paint.
The program costs $ 45 million. It is expected to cover “to modify organisms for use in such areas as biological augmentation, probe design and synthesis of various materials.”
Synthetic biology is commonly regarded as the process of using engineering methods applied to the world of biology, or rather to genetics. In practice, this means that by adding or deleting specific genetic sequences to create desired types of behavior of the organism.
Using biotechnology, scientists will be able to create marine organisms, able to identify biochemical markers in the environment and to detect, for example, diesel-electric submarines off the coast of the United States. Next nearby drone captures the token and informs the command post anti-submarine defense.
The possibilities of synthetic biology is enormous. One option is the ship’s “paint” consisting of microscopic organisms that can regenerate itself throughout the life of the vessel, which will reduce costs by approximately 21 billion dollars the Pentagon spends annually to combat rust.
USS Iwo Jima traces riamcinolone — DefenseOne