Military ponders future of nanotech.

• Author: Pappalardo, Joe

While nano-sciences offer an array of potentially useful technology for the Defense Department, not all military researchers have jumped on this bandwagon.

The disparity of viewpoints was on clear display at a recent lightweight materials conference, where researchers gave differing assessments of its impact.

"If you think biotech has been moving these last few years, just wait," said James Murday, chief scientist for the laboratories at the Office of Naval Research. "The electronics industry will be all nano by the end of the decade."

Other researchers contend the impact will be far less than the predictions of true believers such as Murday. "I'd be shocked if [nanotechnology] will be the thing in 10 years," noted David Stepp, chief of the materials science division of the Army Research Office. "There's always something after."

The federal government is certainly concentrating on nanotechnology. The Clinton administration's 2001 budget raised an informal "nano-scale science and technology working group" to the level of a federal initiative. The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) was born, an effort that has received steady increased in research and development funding.

Federal funding for nanotechnology research and development has increased from $116 million in 1997 to an estimated $961 million in 2004. President Bush's 2005 budget request calls for an additional 2 percent increase, boosting the NNI budget to $982 million.

The Defense Department is one key player in NNI, with a firm interest in developing new materials and manufacturing processes that could determine the shape of a 22nd century fighting force. The Pentagon recognizes 10 broad applications of nano-science, including ultra-small computers, low-power communications systems, bio-chemical defense suites, new targeting lasers and countermeasures and innovative materials for armor systems.

Future plans, Murday said, could include further advances, such as directed self-assembly and repair, nano-porous materials that could screen the passage of particles through a membrane and transparent ceramics and composites that could shame current efforts.

Some long-standing engineering problems may find solutions in nanotech. For example, an artificial sapphire used on the nose cones of infrared-guided missiles could be enhanced using advances in nano-science, said Larry Kabacoff, program manager for nano-structured materials for the Office of Naval Research.

If a new material can be...