# Where are the super secret weapons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998 "2014-09-30T19:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/41 "2014-10-05T10:03:35Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Don’t neglect the fact that billions in R&D each year is simply spent on improving existing systems. For example, the budget for making improvements to the F-22 – like making its radar work better with new features, and so on – is about half a billion dollars per year. > > If you look across the DoD’s R&D budget in any particular year, the purposes of the budget roughly break out thusly: > > 20% - science and technology activities, anything from basic scientific research on the nature of the universe to developing early prototypes of advanced capabilities; > 20% - early development activities that move prototypes into mature engineered systems; > 15% - refinement of those mature systems into readiness for production; > 5% - maintaining the infrastructure to test weapons; and > 40% - improvements to fielded systems. Also, a ton of money that is ostensibly earmarked “for the military” finds its way to pretty ridiculous places. At my old university there was a project that made a cute, cuddly video game that learned natural language by playing with children. It was funded by DARPA. It’s really not uncommon to get funding from “the military” on the thinnest veneer of how your project could, in 50 years and significant tangential work, benefit a soldier or intelligence agency. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/42 "2014-10-05T11:52:23Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > And if you want better armor not the plastic you see in movies and video games like [http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980w/public/2013/10/12/955fd6e59a2add18d83ce59d9c973ac1.jpg?itok=ez1Q8m6V](http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980w/public/2013/10/12/955fd6e59a2add18d83ce59d9c973ac1.jpg?itok=ez1Q8m6V) > > Or [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Future\_Soldier\_2030.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Future_Soldier_2030.jpg) > > You will need some thing like this sorta of big like a space suit [http://majikthise.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/halosuit.jpg](http://majikthise.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/halosuit.jpg) > > For it to work!! But than you would not be able to run and could not walk much and get tired.And have to stop and rest a lot. It would be hard to move in. > > And soldier will really hate it being very uncomfortable and hard to move in. You realize that the “movies and video games” examples you gave were evidently US Army demonstration or prototype setups, and your example of what we’d need from reality is the outfit from the video game Halo, right? Just making sure you were aware of the irony here. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/43 "2014-10-05T14:03:40Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > If you read your super secret memos, then you’d know the super secret weapons are in the super secret base. Exactly. If we knew of them they would not be secret. The Manhattan project set the bar unreasonably high as to how astounding would secret weapons be and how quickly we could get them online. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/44 "2014-10-05T18:03:41Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > You realize that the “movies and video games” examples you gave were evidently US Army demonstration or prototype setups, and your example of what we’d need from reality is the outfit from the video game Halo, right? Just making sure you were aware of the irony here. I’m not sure what you are trying to say.I think a lot public things future armor will look like that. But plastic does not stop a bullet. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/45 "2014-10-05T18:43:40Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Also, a ton of money that is ostensibly earmarked “for the military” finds its way to pretty ridiculous places. At my old university there was a project that made a cute, cuddly video game that learned natural language by playing with children. It was funded by DARPA. It’s really not uncommon to get funding from “the military” on the thinnest veneer of how your project could, in 50 years and significant tangential work, benefit a soldier or intelligence agency. Basic research, which is part of DOD R&D programs, is never directed to a certain application, military or otherwise. The definition of basic research is: “Systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and/or observable facts without specific applications toward processes or products in mind.” What you describe seems a natural fit for that type of research. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/46 "2014-10-05T23:35:15Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > I’m not sure what you are trying to say.I think a lot public things future armor will look like that. > > But plastic does not stop a bullet. Actually, the ballistic vests they issue soldiers is made out of a type of nylon, but as we stated before, those aren’t really designed to stop most bullets a soldier expects to be sent his way, just shrapnel, splinters, spalls, chunks of rock, etc. That’s why they insert ceramic armor plates into them. They don’t the whole thing out of the ceramic plates because they’re actually kind of fragile. I suspect the ballistic nylons is meant to protect the armor plates as much as it’s meant to protect the guy strapped to them. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/47 "2014-10-06T00:17:16Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Actually, the ballistic vests they issue soldiers is made out of a type of nylon, but as we stated before, those aren’t really designed to stop most bullets a soldier expects to be sent his way, just shrapnel, splinters, spalls, chunks of rock, etc. That’s why they insert ceramic armor plates into them. > > They don’t the whole thing out of the ceramic plates because they’re actually kind of fragile. I suspect the ballistic nylons is meant to protect the armor plates as much as it’s meant to protect the guy strapped to them. I’m talking about the public that thing future armor soldiers will wear will be like in the movies and video games like Halo [![](https://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980w/public/2013/10/12/955fd6e59a2add18d83ce59d9c973ac1.jpg?itok=ez1Q8m6V) ](https://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980w/public/2013/10/12/955fd6e59a2add18d83ce59d9c973ac1.jpg?itok=ez1Q8m6V) [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Future_Soldier_2030.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Future_Soldier_2030.jpg) Like the Halo [http://khongthe.com/wallpapers/videogames/ghost-recon-future-soldier-218293.jpg](http://khongthe.com/wallpapers/videogames/ghost-recon-future-soldier-218293.jpg) But plastic does not stop bullets. That is why we don’t use them are never will. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/48 "2014-10-06T01:32:43Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > So where are the super advanced weapons that we have been spending all that money on? They wouldn’t be secret weapons if we knew where they were. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/49 "2014-10-06T04:42:57Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I see what you did [there!](http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2002/DU-Military-Use02c.GIF) LOL good man, I thought Lemur was being tongue in cheek. Heavy isotopes indeed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/50 "2014-10-06T17:21:23Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Funny how we are getting heat wave guns , large sound device and microwave guns and no Hollywood writer or gamer came up with that:eek::eek: > > All Non-Lethal Weapons. Lots of Hollywood writers and gamers come up with stuff like that - even the guy responsible for [the second worst film ever](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_(1997_film)). ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/51 "2014-10-06T22:21:43Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > LOL good man, I thought Lemur was being tongue in cheek. Heavy isotopes indeed. 😃 Common heavy isotopes for directed kinetic energy weapons usually have 82 protons, 92 proton weapons are pretty uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/52 "2014-10-06T23:10:48Z")
I have no more access to classified info than anyone else, but I suspect that if everyone could actually know the top-secret stuff, they’d probably find it disappointingly boring and mundane. No sharks with lasers or aliens in freezers in Nevada. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/53 "2014-10-06T23:28:27Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I have no more access to classified info than anyone else, but I suspect that if everyone could actually know the top-secret stuff, they’d probably find it disappointingly boring and mundane. No sharks with lasers or aliens in freezers in Nevada. But they apparently do use dolphins for mine-clearing, diver assassinations, and kamikaze attacks: > **[Military marine mammal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dolphin)** > > A military marine mammal is a cetacean or pinniped that has been trained for military uses. Examples include bottlenose dolphins, seals, sea lions, and beluga whales. The United States and Soviet militaries have trained and employed oceanic dolphins for various uses. Military marine mammals have been trained to rescue lost naval swimmers, guard navy ships against enemy divers, locate mines for later clearance by divers, and aid in location and recovery of equipment lost on the seabed. > These anim... That follows a long history of [weaponized animals](http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/04/the-weird-weaponized-animals-of-wwii/). Wouldn’t be surprised if we were working on firebreathing [emus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War) right now. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/54 "2014-10-07T05:32:12Z")
The thing too, is DARPA does basic research to come up with tech that would be useful longer term. The internet was based on the concept that unlike earlier mainframe networks, there was no center point - the internet routing design was “self-healing” so that if an area of transmission were taken out, the resulting network would quickly learn any alternate route. Similarly, a program that learns languages would have obvious intelligence applications; if it can learn English, it can learn Arabic or Russian or Chinese, or even regional accents and dialects; thus making transcriptions of communications intercepts (and then translation) far more efficient. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/55 "2014-10-07T14:08:17Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > There was a battle in Iraq in 2004 IIRC where a group of Scottish troops decided on a bayonet charge after they were running low on ammo. Turns out that a bunch of Scotsmen in body armor running at you with bayonets affixed is enough to take the fight out of anyone. I bet it was really the bagpipes! ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/56 "2014-10-07T15:13:20Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I bet it was really the bagpipes! Or the kilts. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/57 "2014-10-07T15:24:36Z")
Google “DARPA”. Some of the actual projects being researched and developed are things like anti-aircraft/missile defense lasers, electromagnetic rail guns, power armor (although closer to Ripley’s power loader than Iron Man…but still pretty cool), smart munitions (like Gene Simmon’s gun in the old Tom Selleck film “Runaway”) and robots. As others have pointed out, most of the “secret” weapons that are in current use have been designed to combat terrorists rather than another nation’s tanks and aircraft. We don’t need a lot of F22 Raptor superplanes to kill religious fanatics driving makeshift “technicals”. Most recent weapon advances seemed to have gone towards detecting, communications and making the battlefield safer for our soldiers. Drones, mine-resistant vehicles, stealthy helicopters and other systems for secretly deploying SOCOM operatives and of course, more robots. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/58 "2014-10-07T15:26:10Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Also, a ton of money that is ostensibly earmarked “for the military” finds its way to pretty ridiculous places. At my old university there was a project that made a cute, cuddly video game that learned natural language by playing with children. It was funded by DARPA. It’s really not uncommon to get funding from “the military” on the thinnest veneer of how your project could, in 50 years and significant tangential work, benefit a soldier or intelligence agency. I don’t know about ridiculous, but back when I was in college(Texas A&M 1991-1996), it was freely admitted that a huge chunk of the computer science department’s grant funding came from the Navy, because they were interested in “autonomous underwater vehicles”. We never did figure out if they were making some sort of underwater drones, or whether that was a euphemism for some sort of torpedo guidance system. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/59 "2014-10-07T15:28:48Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I have no more access to classified info than anyone else, but I suspect that if everyone could actually know the top-secret stuff, they’d probably find it disappointingly boring and mundane. No sharks with lasers or aliens in freezers in Nevada. I have a good friend who used to work as a technical writer on the HARM missile and Paveway LGB programs when TI/Raytheon Defense was still in the DFW area. He said that the funny thing was that the unclassified stuff was the most spectacular and interesting stuff, and that the “Top Secret” documents were usually the driest, most boring things he ever had the displeasure of having to read. Really mundane tech specs, procedures, etc… not whiz-bang stuff at all. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998/60 "2014-10-07T16:43:31Z")
> [@bump](#): > > the unclassified stuff was the most spectacular and interesting stuff, and that the “Top Secret” documents were usually the driest, most boring things he ever had the displeasure of having to read. Really mundane tech specs, procedures, etc… not whiz-bang stuff at all. That actually makes a lot of sense. The real intelligence threat to the USA isn’t nerdy geeks who want sci-fi entertainment - the easily bored Hacker Joe - but rather, Chinese, Iranian and Russian governmental agencies, etc. - the few experts in the world who would actually understand the significance of those seemingly “boring” blueprints, diagrams and numbers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-super-secret-weapons/699998.md?page=4)