Chapter 9

Warfighter Enhancement: Research and Technology

Enhancement technologies push to make soldiers smarter, faster, stronger and ever alert. But soldiers designated for enhancement are not sick or injured. Instead, commanders seek to improve soldiers’ warfighting ability while reducing risk to life and limb. Enhancements may be cognitive or physical; invasive or non-invasive; and pharmaceutical, genetic, physiological mechanical invasion.

Cognitive enhancement

• Drugs to improve memory (nootropics), prevent fatigue (amphetamines) and forestall post-traumatic stress (beta-blockers).
• Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to increase the synaptic plasticity of brain cells and optimize learning, decision-making and language acquisition.
• Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to process information rapidly and enhance decision making.

Physical enhancement

• Blood doping (erythropoietin) to boost endurance.
• Laser eye surgery to improve visual acuity.
• Exoskeletons to strengthen warfighters
• Gene editing for physical & cognitive enhancement

Sounds good, so what are the issues?

• Are enhancements a solution looking for a problem or do we need them?
• Do Special Operations Forces have special requirements?
• What are test subject's rights in enhancement research?
• Enhancement for civilians? A New Frontier.