008Rapid Developments in Stealth Technology.
Blue sky Policy Alert 008
| FP7 themes | health | agro | ict | nano | energy | environment | transport | ssh | space | security |
| ERA goals | mobility | infrastucture | rtd institutions | knowledge sharing | joint programming | cooperation |
| Author(s) | Anthony Walker, Joe Ravetz, Rafael Popper, Thordis Sveinsdottir | |
| Contributor(s) | Anna Kononiuk, Denis Loveridge, Andrej Magruk, Dorota Pawlak, Sally Randles, Ozcan Saritas, Phil Shapira, Alexander Sokolov | |
| Manifestation | Rapid development | Potential impacts in Europe infrastructures  people's lives  legislation & regulation economy & business  defence & security government & politics  environment & ecosystems science & technology |
| Importance for EU | | |
| Strategic attention | by 2030  by 2050 | |
| Type of impact | Extremely positive | |
| Inspired by | EC research on Nanosciences(Selfassembling and self-organisation) | |
| Related to | FP7 project: ENSEMBLE | |
| Keywords | convergence, ICT, invisibility, nanotechnology, self-assembling, self-organisation | |
Rapid Developments in Stealth Technology.
Research topic
Stealth technology, which is currently limited to the military sector, is advancing fast. New players and rapid developments in nanotechnology indicate that developmental leaps may be on the horizon. This may lead to stealth technologies becoming more readily available for other sectors and even for public consumption. Potential applications of this technology are numerous and military interest is growing. This would have extensive impact on security measures, traffic control, crime prevention and military operations.
Objective
Research should focus on understanding the ways in which stealth technology could impact on wider society, and propose ways of responding to new threats that could potentially arise from stealth technology becoming more readily available. Research could also focus on public perception of stealth technology and examine stakeholder attitude in order to better predict social acceptance of stealth technologies. Research could focus on how systems of traffic control and security would need to adapt should stealth technology become readily available.
Expected impact
The research will a) inform counter strategies within the sectors of security, traffic and crime control, devise strategies for appropriate policy responses across EU; b) inform common legislation and regulation across EU; c) inform business enterprise and innovation in this field;
Importance for Europe
Advances in stealth technology could potentially have serious implications for Europe and it is vital that research underpins any policy response from the EU. Common regulation is also necessary and EU needs to take initiative to formulate a response should stealth technology enter the public domain. EU policy could then provide blueprint for any policy response from the member states.