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Declassified CIA files reveal how robot 'insectothopter' spy flew
Newly-released CIA documents show how the espionage agency developed a robot dragonfly spy. The tiny aerial surveillance device – known as the "insectothopter" - was built in the 1970s according to the CIA Museum, where it has been displayed for 16 years. But blueprints released this week by the US spy agency to website The Black Vault reveal the finely honed microengineering behind it. They show how CIA engineers had built miniature listening devices by 1970, but getting them over obstacles such as an embassy wall remained a major obstacle. After attempts to fit microphones to animals failed, the spy agency hit on the concept of a robot insect. Engineers started developing a miniature device that could fly 200 metres under human guidance.
They initially thought a robotic bee could do the job – but quickly realised it would lack stability. Instead one of the researchers who was a dragonfly collector suggested that insect as the best candidate for the technology.
In addition to its high manoeuvrability, the dragonfly can easily hover over a target – an essential requirement for any spying operation.
Control was through two lasers – one that controlled the insectothopter's power and another that steered it. But the ambitious project was scuppered by the wind factor.
While the robot insect flew perfectly well under laboratory conditions, control was harder to achieve in the blustery unpredictable outdoors.
"The ultimate demonstration of controlled powered flight has not yet been achieved," the CIA chief scientist wrote. In the end, the robot dragonfly – developed 40 years before unmanned drones – never flew and the spy agency closed the project.
https://www.9news.com.au/world/cia-insectothopter-robot-spy-plans-shown-in-documents/b1dacc1c-e50a-43e1-ad25-6e02e8c6a50f
The Insectothopter was a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle developed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency’s research and development office in the 1970s. The Insectothopter was the size of a dragonfly, and was hand-painted to look like one. It was powered by a small gasoline engine to make the wings move and was fueled by a very small amount of gas. The project was abandoned when the Insectothopter was found to be too difficult to control in crosswinds.
It took nearly seven years for documents to be released on the Insectothopter. They were finally received in January of 2020 (release letter dated 16 December 2019).
The CIA also produced and released the below video, which has been available since circa 2015. However, the documents have never been released before now.
https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/insectothopter-cias-uav-from-the-1970s/
CIA Documents on the Insectothopter, Released December 2019 and Received January of 2020
https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/cia/insectothopter-cia1.pdf
Could This Be DARPA’s Project for UFO/UAP Research?
There is nothing more mind numbing than sifting through hundreds of pages of defense related budgets. Line item after line item of program element numbers, dollar amounts and vague descriptions are only part of the headache. When searching for something specific, in a sea of nondescript references, it’s like seeking out one unique needle in a stack of needles. If you set out to find what may be defense funding for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) research? You’ll go cross-eyed within hours. However, that was what The Black Vault set out to do; and the search may just have paid off.
For those readers who follow news about the Pentagon’s UFO research program, you’ll know that Uncle Sam has recently flip flopped on the issue. First stating they investigated unidentified flying objects with a secret program touted by many media outlets; they later recanted that by updating their previous statement and denying they ever did such a thing.
Confusion has reigned about what the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) really was. Those involved in the effort, like Mr. Luis Elizondo, former Pentagon senior ranking person within the program, states unequivocally it was a UFO research program. The Pentagon, however, denies that fact, and told The Black Vault in December of 2019 that they were taking back their admission to researching UFOs, and said AATIP had nothing to do with them.
Let’s assume for a moment the Pentagon has continued their long-standing tradition of some mis-truths on the topic, and AATIP did deal with UFOs. What we do know, is that according to the NY Times, $22 million dollars that funded the program went to a subsidiary of Bigelow Aerospace known as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies or BAASS, and would last from 2007-2012.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) would reveal that thirty-eight reports known as Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) were produced under AATIP. In January of 2018, Senator John McCain’s office received a list of those report titles, after the Senator expressed interest in knowing what the program had produced.
To add to the concoction of confusion already surrounding AATIP, none of the DIRDs really seemed to reference anything UFO related. In addition, the DIRD reports that did leak out in full, did not mention AATIP, but rather, something called the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program.
In the letter to Senator McCain, from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) that oversaw the program, “’The purpose of AATIP was to investigate foreign advanced aerospace weapon threats from the present out to the next 40 years.”
Letter dated January 9, 2018, from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to Senator John McCain, with the 38 DIRD report list attached.
Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough reiterated this in a statement to The Black Vault in 2019. “The purpose of AATIP was to investigate foreign advanced aerospace weapons system applications with future technology projections over the next 40 years, and to create a center of expertise on advanced aerospace technologies.”
Despite the contradiction, Elizondo told The Black Vault the Pentagon’s stance and their statements are wrong. “I believe enough people in our Government have been made aware over the last 2 years that a program existed and continues to exist…”
With these assertions, The Black Vault set out to find exactly where that money may be coming from that allows the program and the effort to continue. In order to do that, we must first go after what was publicly posted for the AAWSA Program. That can be found archived from a 2008 “Federal Business Opportunities” posting which was saved in the “Wayback Machine.” This was the original posting that was seen by BAASS in 2008, which they submitted a bid for. No other corporations offered a bid.
https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/could-this-be-darpas-project-for-ufo-uap-research/