The unconventional proposals were made by the US Air Force |
The US military investigated building a "gay bomb", which would make enemy soldiers "sexually irresistible" to each other, government papers say.
Another idea was to develop a chemical causing "severe and lasting halitosis", so that enemy forces would be obvious even when they tried to blend in with civilians. Me?" bomb, which would simulate flatulence in enemy ranks. But some fringe research mimics the best of science fiction.
There seems to be no failure of imagination in advancing warfare, but some experts fear these farfetched projects show a little too much imagination.
Just this month, the government confirmed that an Ohio Air Force laboratory had asked for $7.5 million to build a nonlethal "gay bomb," a weapon that would encourage enemies to make love, not war.
The weapon would use strong aphrodisiacs to make enemy troops so sexually attracted to each other that they'd lose interest in fighting.
Last year, scientists at Boston University developed brain implants that could steer sharklike dog fish with a phantom odor.
Just three years ago, the military funded a specious study of psychic teleportation, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Scientists also reportedly considered a "sting me/attack me" chemical weapon to attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats towards enemy troops. Arming sharks with chemical implants and cameras to work as spies.
This year the Pentagon will spend $78 billion — about half of all government research and development dollars — on a variety of projects, according to the American Association for the Advancement for Science (AAAS).
The vast majority - about $68 billion - goes to traditional spending, like weapons development and space systems.
Stimulating the brain to suppress sleep for days. Although the idea never advanced beyond the planning stage, it revealed troubling assumptions embedded in military policy at the time, particularly during the era of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.” This account examines how the proposal surfaced through freedom-of-information requests, why it was ultimately unworkable, how it became a target of satire and conspiracy theories, and how it reflects a broader history of discrimination against LGBTQ service members across decades of U.S.
military practice.
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A substance to make the skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight was also pondered. "There is the risk that agencies starved of funding will invest in schemes that promise high payoff, but aren't a sound investment," she added.
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How the Pentagon Wanted to Make a "Gay Bomb"
Megaprojects
Posted: November 20, 2025 | Last updated: November 20, 2025
An in-depth exploration of the so-called gay bomb, a real proposal submitted by a U.S.
Air Force laboratory in the 1990s that aimed to incapacitate enemy forces by inducing homosexual attraction through an aerosolized chemical agent. "But it's hard to turn these ideas into action."
In her book "Imaginary Weapons," military expert Sharon Weinberger writes that the federal government is spending taxpayer money on war technology at a pace of about $50,000 per second.
"If you don't support long-term investment in funding risky science and technology, you won't get breakthroughs," Weinberger told ABC News.
But investing in wacky weaponry can also have the opposite effect.
"There is more pressure to fund fringy things, much the same way a bankrupted person will be tempted to play the lottery," said Weinberger.
The 1994 plans were for a six-year project costing $7.5m, but they were never pursued.
The US defence department considered various non-lethal chemicals meant to disrupt enemy discipline and morale.
The plans were obtained under the US Freedom of Information by the Sunshine Project, a group which monitors research into chemical and biological weapons.
Me?" device had been under consideration since 1945, the government papers say.
Captain Dan McSweeney of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at the Pentagon said the defence department receives "literally hundreds" of project ideas, but that "none of the systems described in that [1994] proposal have been developed".
However, researchers concluded that the premise for such a device was fatally flawed because "people in many areas of the world do not find faecal odour offensive, since they smell it on a regular basis".
Indeed, a "Who?
Me?'
The plan for a so-called "love bomb" envisaged an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the military called a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale.