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Thread: A request for help

  1. #1
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    Default A request for help

    About six months ago I finished the design work on an essentially infinite duration* (solar powered) armed hover drone nicknamed LADES (Low Altitude Detection and Engagement System). It's small enough to compress into a backpack and is capable of being deployed from aircraft like the C-130. The drone is equipped with a weapon system which works roughly like a high powered sniper rifle, which makes it ideal for taking out specific targets without any collateral damage.

    *theoretically infinite duration practically translates to a couple of weeks, after which you'd probably want to bring the thing in for maintenance, reloading, or repair.

    LADES is also cheap and easy to manufacture, using entirely off the shelf commercial technology. If deployed en masse over a hard to reach area (or a not so hard to reach area, like a city) all of the camera feeds can be linked together to a central processing facility where facial recognition systems can look for specific individuals. Suspicious behavior can also be watched for by personnel sitting at video banks. If a high value target or obvious enemy/insurgent forces can be identified, the LADES weapons systems can be used to immediately engage said target even if they are in an area with large numbers of civilians/human shields where rocket and missile strikes would be costly in terms of collateral damage.

    So far, I have been completely unable to get the military or government interested in this system or funding its development. The full cost of a demonstration prototype is $80,000 and about four weeks time, mostly due to shipping.

    I have contacted, or attempted to contact the following groups or agencies regarding this, below I will list these groups and what their response was.

    DARPA - I traded several emails with a program director who I met after a proposed rifle design I sent to DARPA's "mail us an idea" address got a very large amount of positive feedback. This program director indicated that while he thought the system had a lot of potential, it was far too developed and deployable to be funded by DARPA. He passed it on to the Pentagon and I never heard anything more from anyone on it. (I'm not listing the names or specific jobs of anyone because these were emails sent from one person/agency to another and I'm not positive on what the etiquette is on that, so the side of caution gets the err.)

    TSWG - I sent several emails to different parts of this group and never received any reply.

    The CIA - I attended a recruiting event at my former graduate school (KU) and after the event ended I gave the agents a description of the system and it's capabilities and asked them to pass it along. They agreed to, but cautioned that it wasn't their area and not to expect much. I have had no further contact.

    Local Congressional People - I contacted the office of Emanual Cleaver (my Rep.) and after several weeks was presented with the address to the SBIR website.

    Various Venture Capital firms - I have had absolutely no luck with this group at all, except for one person who told me after the Pentagon asked for prototypes of the rifle I designed, "Well, that sounds great, as soon as you get a contract, call me and we'll get you all the capital you need."

    Local SBA and other local Entreprenurial sources - this generally yielded a lot of encouragement and a lot of re-iteration of things I had already learned in KU's MBA program.

    Manufacturers of major component systems - after contacting the companies that made major components of the finished product, I was blown off in various and creative ways, including one that refused to even talk with my due to my lack of a corporate website.

    Frankly, I'm about out of ideas on where to go with this. The LADES drone will save lives. It's cheap. It provides a desperately needed capability to the U.S. military. It's available now. And I cannot generate interest in it no matter what I try. Any and all ideas anyone has on resources I have not explored fully or new ways to explore resources I have already visited would be greatly welcomed. Thank you all for your time and help.

    -------------------
    Notes to prove I'm not a crazy person rambling on. My user name is my real name, anyone is more than welcome to google it. The rifle design referred to is something I came up with after my deployment in 03-04. Shortly after finishing grad school, I emailed a rough outline of the design to DARPA's open submission button. Two days later I was being asked for prototypes and testing data by the Pentagon's technology office and getting emails from General officers telling me that there was a lot of interest in this at Ft. Benning. When I explained that I wasn't an engineer and would need money to lead a team to do development work (preferably in concert with an existing manufacturer) on the design everyone pretty much quit talking to me.

    I am not at all an engineer. My undergraduate work was in Justice Systems, with additional emphasis on statistical analysis and psychology, particularly profiling. My graduate work was originally in law - interrupted by deployment - and then in business, specifically entrepreneurship and international business. I have also been quoted by Time Magazine's Curious Capitalist blog about the financial crisis on multiple occasions. linky and linky as examples.

    But like I said, I'm not an engineer, this drone system is much more of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup than a Maserati engine if that makes sense. I didn't invent any new radical technology to make this work, I just found a lot of different and sometimes obscure systems that can be integrated to meet a gaping need for the U.S. military and figured out how to put them together.

    Again, thank you in advance for any and all help anyone is able to provide.

  2. #2
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    That sounds like a fantastic idea in my opinion. I have zero experience in this as well, but my first inclination would be to speak with some of the larger (or smaller) defense contractors like Lockheed-Martin and such, who would actually have the industrial capacity to produce the numbers that the military would order if they bought the system. Post back if you make any progress.

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    Council Member Dr. C's Avatar
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    Hi fellow Jayhawk (I also graduated from KU): Have you tried the Army Research Lab? http://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.htm

    Have you ever watched the ABC tv show Shark Tank?

    http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/

    You sound familiar with this process, but do you hold a patent on the design?

    Is LADES pronounced like the word LADIES?
    Michele Costanza, Ph.D., CKM/CKEE (Contractor)

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    I'm too ignorant to give specific advice, but you might want to contact the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). They're doing work in similar areas and might be able to point you in a productive direction.

    Good luck!

  5. #5
    Council Member Stan's Avatar
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    Default Seems a tad too easy, but

    have you looked at FEDBID ?

    When we were looking for an EOD Robot we just dumped the request and details there. Whoa Nellie ! Get ready for anything and everything.

    The USG often looks there for straight forward purchases.

    Good Luck !
    If you want to blend in, take the bus

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    Council Member William F. Owen's Avatar
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    Hi.

    Amongst other things, I'm the Middle East Editor of Unmanned Vehicles

    Drop me a PM, and I'll pass some info on.
    Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"

    - The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
    - If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
    Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition

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    @moderators: sorry I posted this in the wrong forum, thanks for moving it to the right one.

    @zack: thanks for the kind words.

    @Dr. C: Rock Chalk! (Yesterday's loss notwithstanding) I'll contact the Army Research Lab tomorrow morning. Thanks for the idea. I didn't even know that "Shark Tank" show existed. Looked like a business plan competition except everyone was hamming up like crazy for the cameras. And I take no official stance on acronym pronunciation.

    @Entropy: I'll also contact the Air Force Research Lab tomorrow morning. It honestly hadn't occurred to me to try non Army branches of the military, thanks for the suggestion.

    @Stan: I didn't know FEDBID existed. I've started the registration process and will complete it as soon as I find the pieces of paper with my CCR info on them. Thanks for pointing that place out. It looks promising.

    @William F. Owen: PM sent.

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    Council Member bourbon's Avatar
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    Do we have a micro-grant program or something like that for bottom-up cases of innovation like Sean’s? Small grants for innovators outside of the r&d world to help get from idea to prototype. We are a nation of MacGyver’s; such a program could harness that strength.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by bourbon View Post
    Do we have a micro-grant program or something like that for bottom-up cases of innovation like Sean’s? Small grants for innovators outside of the r&d world to help get from idea to prototype. We are a nation of MacGyver’s; such a program could harness that strength.
    That's what the SBIR program is supposed to be--Small Business Innovative Research grants to kick start R & D in areas that are interesting to DoD.
    Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit
    The greatest educational dogma is also its greatest fallacy: the belief that what must be learned can necessarily be taught. — Sydney J. Harris

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    I cant do much with the DOD side of your issue but I do have some military experience and have been in business and finance for over 30 years. If you attract attention on this thing you are going to need some sound advice as to proceeding to make a viable business project out of it. In that arena, I can be of some assistance since, as a banker, I have seen every way to screw up a start up there is...
    Iif I can be of assistance, pm me and we'll chat

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    DSA Van Ninh District 1969

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    Default A simple idea to complete the battle space

    In Afghanistan, the war is largely on the shoulders of the army/marines. The air force is too powerful for the conflict (big bombs, small targets) and the navy is too far away.

    At the army's disposal is surveillance drones (some armed), small rotary wing air surveillance and helicopter gunships. What's missing is small armed rotary wing aircraft. Basically a helicopter just big enough to carry a M16, a camera, night vision scope or a searchlight and servo motors to target the weapon/cameras. Ideally there is a remote pilot and a remote gunner but one could do both.

    The advantages:
    Relatively inexpensive and unmanned (small loss if shot down).
    Easy to transport by any military vehicle.
    Offers quick to deploy close combat support.
    Can get much lower and closer to the action (small loss if shot down).
    Can be run by soldiers outside of the immediate combat group thereby increasing the force at hand without increasing the soldiers in the field.
    Also serves as an observation craft and can direct artillery.
    Has enough firepower to take on irregular forces.
    Small moving target that is hard to hit.

    Imagine the movie Blackhawk down with about ten of these craft at rooftop surrounding the landing zone or 10 of them flying above the convoy as they went through town.

    The Taliban want to kill soldiers, not little machines. But these machines could be even more effective at taking the battle to the enemy than feet on the ground because they are fearless and they can fly. It would be demoralizing to the Taliban.

    The technology exists. It just needs to be put together.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 11-20-2009 at 10:49 PM. Reason: Moved to this thread as appropriate and PM to author

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    Does it hover like a helicopter? That is what I think is needed. In close and expendable close fire support. See my post on your thread.

    Ozziedog

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