From the description of Pais, US Patent 20170313446 A1, publication date Nov 2, 2017, assigned to US Department of the Navy
"It is possible to reduce the inertial mass and hence the gravitational mass, of a system/object in motion, by an abrupt perturbation of the non-linear background of local spacetime (the local vacuum energy state), equivalent to an accelerated excursion far from thermodynamic equilibrium (analogous with symmetry-breaking induced by abrupt changes of state/phase transitions). The physical mechanism which drives this diminution in inertial mass is based on the negative pressure (hence repulsive gravity) exhibited by the polarized local vacuum energy state (local vacuum polarization being achieved by a coupling of accelerated high frequency vibration with accelerated high frequency axial rotation of an electrically charged system/object) in the close proximity of the system/object in question. In other words, inertial mass reduction can be achieved via manipulation of quantum field fluctuations in the local vacuum energy state, in the immediate proximity of the object/system. Therefore it is possible to reduce a craft's inertia, that is, its resistance to motion/acceleration by polarizing the vacuum in the close proximity of the moving craft.
Polarization of the local vacuum is analogous to manipulation/modification of the local space tie topological lattice energy density. As a result, extreme speeds can be achieved.
If we can engineer the structure of the local quantum vacuum state, we can engineer the fabric of our reality at the most fundamental level (thus affecting a physical system's inertial and gravitational properties). This realization would greatly advance the fields of aerospace propulsion and power generation. "…