DARPA Wants Distributed Network of Deep Sea Storage Units 81
Zothecula writes "DARPA has seen the future of naval warfare and it's falling upward. As part of an effort to reduce the logistics of sending equipment into trouble areas, the agency's Upward Falling Payloads project is aimed at developing storage capsules capable of remaining on the deep seabed for years. These would contain non-lethal military assets that could be deployed on the spot years in advance and rise to the surface as needed."
Possible side benefit: they need to research communications systems reliable enough to command the deep sea capsules when needed.
Use Concrete .... (Score:2)
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Re:Use Concrete .... (Score:4, Interesting)
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That was my first thought too, but wp [wikipedia.org] says otherwise
Not anymore it doesn't.
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That was my first thought too, but wp [wikipedia.org] says otherwise
Not anymore it doesn't.
LMAO
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Let me get this straight (Score:4, Funny)
DARPA wants to invent robots that are designed to "rise up"? Sounds like a pretty dangerous precedent to me.
Re:Let me get this straight (Score:5, Funny)
RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
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The FBI has been after him, since he began promoting usage of the Windows hosts file to evade tracking and detection. They have a black mark next to his name and are looking for enough evidence for a "material support of terrorism charge" based on messages like these:
[bollocksquote]
Does this mean... (Score:3)
That Ricky and Bubba will be bidding on the storage units if the government doesn't pay the rent?
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my first thought was underwater raid (Score:2)
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you should write underwater RAID
because an underwater raid of a different sort is also an issue with this concept
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well, instead of storing all your data in the cloud, you can now store it in the drink too.
Re:my first thought was underwater raid (Score:4, Informative)
Since this Slashdot the title should really be storage containers as the obvious assumption is a storage unit stores data!
RAID: Reconnaissance Assets Invisibly Drowned?
This is old news, the story was posted on slashdot last week [slashdot.org]. Same story, same request, same misinterpretation of what is actually sought.
The request is for pre-positioned military assets (non lethal) for surveillance and intelligence which remain inert on the sea floor until needed, and then become buoyant, rise to the surface and release aerial surveillance equipment, (short life drones or balloons), or merely float and gather signal intelligence.
These could be used for search and rescue as well as intelligence gathering in trouble spots.
This avoids having to find some way to fly a plane or a manned drone to some remote location in a hurry. Since its not a munition, its not considered an aggressive act to seed the ocean floor (4000 feet down, in international waters) with something that you can later instruct to become active.
It is thought that being down 4000 feet would be enough protection to make them unlikely to be messed with. (Wishful thinking if you ask me, once you abandon anything on the ocean bottom without support of international treaty, its pretty much fair game for salvage or state sponsored retrieval via ROVs.).
half there already (Score:2)
All this effort (Score:1)
All this effort just so a dysfunctional, rag-tag group of strangers can find the armament they need to outfit the rebel military and take back Tampa in 2027.
Re:Why do they explicitly mention non-lethal asset (Score:4, Informative)
From TFA:
Because of the difficulty of retrieving the capsules, DARPA is concentrating on non-lethal assets, so there’s no conflict with treaties involving munitions and their disposal.
I think DARPA is concerned about the politics of potentially leaving dangerous weapons just lying around. They obviously could be used for anything that can be stored for long period of time, if they manage to get them working.
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At least theoretically, if they put a giant red cross on a submarine full of band-aids, other nations wouldn't depth charge it?
Although "obviously" if the US were about to invade a country they'd be out there trying to blow up the storage boxes, wasting time and ammo?
Non-lethal = when a fishing trawler hauls it off the seabed they can't claim insurance costs etc for their ship blowing up? Also if "everyone knows" subsea storage is all non-lethal (yeah like thats gonna happen long term) then the US is somew
dup (Score:5, Insightful)
if you need karma go back to when this ran 4 days ago and grab some high rated comments.
tagging a story dup in the 'mysterious future' should flag it for review so this doesn't happen.
Meanwhile, 25 years from now... (Score:5, Funny)
When the current cryotograghic algorithms which secure these cracker-jack prizes become easily crackable by script-kiddies, and with future long-range private drones weilding live HD cams, I see a new form of geocaching game on the horizon.
I'll look forward to watching the reruns on Youtube.
Thanks US Military!
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Re:Meanwhile, 25 years from now... (Score:5, Interesting)
My real question is how they're going to make it strong enough to unstick itself.
Easily done with burn-wires dropping weights, or compressed air cylinders de-flooding chambers or inflating sacks. All of this technology already exists in the commercial market place. The navy already has deep sea (slow speed) com systems to submarines.
The intent is to store surveillance assets (drones, balloons or sonobuoys) that can be called into action from 4000 feet down after long term storage on the bottom. .
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Slashdot leads the way (Score:2, Funny)
I recommend they look into Slashdot's Upward Falling Stories [slashdot.org], which tend to drop off the front page and then float back up again as a repost.
Proof of time travel (Score:1)
If this isn't proof that time traveling aliens are running the government, I don't know what is.
Meanwhile, 12,000 years from now... (Score:5, Interesting)
Ocean explorers recover a remarkably well-preserved, ancient artifact from the deep mud of the ocean floor.
"What the hell is it??"
"I don't really know. It must be newer than the geological data indicate. We have no record of any prior advanced civilizations."
obsolete (Score:2)
"deployed years later" .. isn't there a risk that the equipment would be obsolete? Field equipment is changing rather rapidly in this day and age, especially electronics.
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"deployed years later" .. isn't there a risk that the equipment would be obsolete? Field equipment is changing rather rapidly in this day and age, especially electronics.
Clearly not been in .mil. Some high tech stuff, lots thats not...
Sterile bags of saline solution, IV stuff, band aids, field dressings, pioneer tools, food...
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"deployed years later" .. isn't there a risk that the equipment would be obsolete? Field equipment is changing rather rapidly in this day and age, especially electronics.
Clearly not been in .mil. Some high tech stuff, lots thats not...
Sterile bags of saline solution, IV stuff, band aids, field dressings, pioneer tools, food...
Oh, but I have. Military contractor, seven years, electronics. And yes, a lot of the stuff still in use is of elderly pedegree, but just recently there's been some decent advances (probably spurred by new types of warfare, necessity being the mother etc.) and more on the way. More than any other time since *I* was involved, existing gear can be mooted by new countermeasures. So as someone else said, the value appears to be staples like food, clothing. *maybe* small arms ammunition, although there's bee
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Depends. It could be stuff like supplies (fuel/oil/grease, food, ammo) which while having a shelf life, can be stored for a bit and unlikely to be obsoleted quickly. This is the most likely case as having pre-positioned supplies at the ready gives you a strong advantage out of the gate by being able to resupply without having a nearby resup
Really? (Score:4, Funny)
Just how long can a Marine Division wait on the ocean floor and still be effective?
This is overkill... (Score:2)
Shaggy Man's body is indestrucible.
"trouble areas" (Score:1)
If we can't find any, we'll create some...
sonic transudcer (Score:1)
I had an idea like that a while back, as a way to stash personal stuff out of sight for long periods. Seal (e.g. weld) the stuff in a box with a microphone, piezo beeper, low powered microprocessor, and lithium battery pack inside. There are lithium chloride batteries (e.g. Tadiran) that can supply small amounts of current for decades, and an 8-bit CMOS processor uses just a few microamps at low speed (think of digital watches). The box would just sit quietly on the bottom listening for a certain 128-bit
ELF (Score:2)
Possible side benefit: they need to research communications systems reliable enough to command the deep sea capsules when needed.
The navy has had this ability for quite some time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_low_frequency [wikipedia.org]
war of the worlds (Score:1)
Dear America, (Score:2)
Throw in some time-capsule stuff (Score:4, Funny)
Like buying presents for children, there's really no way of knowing whether the DoD will in the future be able to make use of whatever they stash away, or whether it will still be edible, nonobsolete, or even free of rust and bilgewater.
So along with the Great Northern beans and networking nodes with 10,000-day vulnerabilities, let's add some historical memorabilia. Copies of current Navy regulations and 12 year old scotch for example.
Another possibility is that DARPA could plant stuff designed to be found by the enemy. Trick black soap. Bogus ciphers that will cause the enemy to spend years or decades fruitlessly attempting to decode. Bogus mine-defusing instructions that will make them go boom.
Pods (Score:1)
As a long-time RTS fan, I love this idea. Ok, grudgingly, no guns in it.
Still, "if you find yourself in a fair fight, you haven't done your homework." Given history, I'm fine with the US spending as much as the next 20 nations combined. It's freaking cheap compared to a real war.
Meanwhile, on the beach in Pakistan: (Score:2)
Fisherman: Sir, I found them just floating in the water, sir
Police officer: Kareem, you know me. Don't make me break your jaw bone. Tell me did you get them from the ashram-e-talbi group?
Fisherman: Sir, no sir. I was just fishing sir. My net got trapped in something on the seabed sir. I jumped down and dived in, and saw it was caught in some kind of handle sir. I twisted the handle, released the net, came up for air, I was floating in the
In Other Words (Score:1)
In other words:
"We are famously over-stocked on items that we are not actually using because of huge budget allocations. We don't want to lose those budget numbers and the goverment is saying we need to buy their defense contractor friends' goods. The plan is to just purchase a billion dollars of equipment and just sink it never to be seen again. Everybody wins, except maybe the taxpayers."
--Tirian
Um, tell me again.... (Score:2)
what "assets" won't be obsolete in 10 years maybe, and definitely 20? Gloves? Shoes? Certainly not weapons or electronics. Sounds like the military needs a reason to bury something on a regular basis, but it's not equipment.
Deep Sea Storage Urchins (Score:2)
Haven't fully woken up yet, waiting for caffeine to kick in. Read the title as "Deep Sea Storage Urchins" ...
I'm stoked (Score:2)
When can we put Bruce Willis into storage?