Inside the super-soldier arms race to create genetically modified killing machines unable to feel pain or fe – The Sun

THE ultimate warrior would be unable feel fear or pain, capable of running at Olympic speeds, and even immune to modern weapons.

Their existence was once only possible in the realm of science fiction but a new worldwide arms race is pitting nation states against each other to be the first to successfully create real genetically modified super soldiers.

Militaries have a long history of using powerful drugs to temporarily turn their troops into transcendant Terminator-style killers.

Nazis took methamphetamine or "crystal meth" during the Second World War to stay alert and awake for superhuman stretches of time.

And even the British military bought thousands of Modafinil pills which boost brain-power ahead of the Iraq War.

In China, it is reasonable to assume that they are enhancing their battlefield soldiers on all these fronts.

But with advances in technology, it could now be possible to alter soldiers' DNA to give them godlike powers all the time, from Herculean strength to lizard-like limb regeneration.

GM technology is proven with plants, it could absolutely be applied to the person, said Professor John Louth, an expert at defence think tank Rusi.

In China, it is reasonable to assume that they are enhancing their battlefield soldiers on all these fronts.

China's armed forces are the largest in the world, consisting of a staggering 2.2million personnel.

This year alone, Beijing is spending $178.16billion on its defence budget.

But as the country's international relations flare up, they could be looking to be the first army to have genetically modified super soldiers to get ahead of adversaries.

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These combatants would be stronger, faster and even smarter than their battlefield opponents.

Their DNA could also be adapted to help them recover more quickly from injuries or give them superior hearing and night vision.

The threat is obvious and real. Chinese money could be stealing a march on western armed forces and that is deeply concerning," Prof Louth said.

Concerns about China's super soldier plans came after a Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, claimed to have successfully created genetically modified babies using gene editing technology.

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China jailed Dr Jiankui for illegal medical practices over his claims to have made three babies immune to HIV.

But it's now suspected that Chinese military chiefs are backing trials into human gene editing.

But they're not alone.

The US has also conducted some strange super-soldier research projects.

They've already publicly unveiled a 5million Iron Man-style exoskeleton which gives fighters incredible muscle-power.

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And the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) developed ways for warfighters to scale walls by studying the skin of geckos.

Novelist Simon Conway, who was granted behind-the-scenes access at the secretive Pentagon agency, revealed a string of other super soldier programmes underway there in 2012.

He claims scientists were working on gene modification that would allow soldiers' bodies to convert fat into energy more efficiently, allowing them to go days without eating.

What is gene editing?

"It's all about improving the efficiency of energy creation in the body," Conway told the Sunday Express.

"Soldiers would be able to run at Olympic speeds, carry large weights and go without sleep and without food."

But the US isn't just looking at how biotechnology can give their soldiers the upper-hand on the battlefield.

They're also carrying out research into medical regeneration, allowing severely injured soldiers who've lost limbs or suffered extensive burns to heal organically.

This is already a reality in the animal kingdom, where lizards can regrow amputated tails and salamanders can restore entire severed limbs.

"We would like it to be as restorative as possible, resist infection and be durable," said Army Lt. Col. David Saunders, extremity repair product manager for the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity.

"[There are] many wonderful things emerging in the field of regenerative medicine to restore form and function to our wounded warfighters."

As recently as January 2020, the US military was unveiling incredible advances in warzone genetics.

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Army researchers developed a gene therapy that allowed mice to create proteins that would protect them against nerve agents deadly chemical weapons that attack the nervous system, like the Russian Novichok used in the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.

The same gene therapy given to the mice that made them chemical weapon-proof could theoretically be used in soldiers entering hazardous environments.

Before Russia's nerve agents were used with terrible effect, president Vladimir Putin had warned of an even more terrifying weapon.

Speaking at a 2017 youth festival in Sochi, Putin spoke openly about the destructive possible consequences of gene-editing.

"A man has the opportunity to get into the genetic code created by either nature, or as religious people would say, by the God," he said, The Express reports.

"He can be a genius mathematician, a brilliant musician or a soldier, a man who can fight without fear, compassion, regret or pain.

"As you understand, humanity can enter, and most likely it will in the near future, a very difficult and very responsible period of its existence.

"What I have just described might be worse than a nuclear bomb."

But instead of this being something in the "near future", Russia is already factoring genetics into its military strategy.

Alexander Sergeyev, the head of the country's Academy of Sciences, revealed the armed forces were researching "genetic passports" in 2019, Forbes reports.

The passports would predict a soldier's "resistance to stress, ability to perform physical and mental operations under the conditions of this stress, and so on."

Sergeyev added that they could be used to sort which branch of the armed forces personnel would be sent to.

"There are already serious developments in this area," he said.

"It is about understanding at the genetic level who is more prone to, for example, to service in the fleet, who may be more prepared to become a paratrooper or a tankman."

What I have just described might be worse than a nuclear bomb.

And unlike other world leaders, Putin has a very close interest in genetic editing.

That's because his eldest daughter, Maria Vorontsova, is a scientist who specialises in genetic engineering and acts as his adviser on the matter.

In 2018, before He Jiankui revealed his HIV-immune babies in China, Putin had already allotted $2billion for genetic research, Bloomberg reports.

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He even put Vorontsova in charge of the 30-person panel overseeing the experiments.

Watching world superpowers will undoubtedly be paying attention to Putin's potential to weaponise the research.

After all, as Putin says, genetic editing is an area of science which will "determine the future of the whole world".

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Inside the super-soldier arms race to create genetically modified killing machines unable to feel pain or fe - The Sun