US military looks to ‘black ice’

The US military has appealed to scientists to help develop a novel weapon – artificial black ice.

The good thing about this article is the number of different ways to get across the main advantage of this new ‘weapon’ i.e. it makes the ground slippery:

• “to get from point A to point B, one must have sufficient traction with the ground”
• Darpa believes a polymer-based compound could replicate the properties of black ice – a thin, translucent slippery coating, typically found on roads in winter – to reduce traction.
• “Such a system will provide unprecedented situational control and sustained operational tempo,” said Darpa.
• “It would degrade the ability of our adversaries to shoot and chase us.”

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | US military looks to ‘black ice’