By John Greenewald, Jr. – The Black Vault – Originally Published: October 18, 2019

To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA), a public benefit corporation led by rock star Tom DeLonge, announced a collaborative agreement with the U.S. Army this week. The original press release sent out by TTSA was vague, and offered few details. However, the Army spoke with The Black Vault to discuss the agreement, and offer a copy of the entire document, nearly in full (understandably, a few phone numbers were removed for privacy reasons).

The news broke on October 17, 2019, wherein TTSA stated in a press release, “[TTSA] announced today a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command [CCDC] to advance TTSA’s materiel and technology innovations in order to develop enhanced capabilities for Army ground vehicles.” The press release continued, “TTSA will share its discoveries with Ground Vehicle System Center (GVSC) and Ground Vehicle Survivability and Protection (GVSP) and the U.S. Army shall provide laboratories, expertise, support, and resources to help characterize the technologies and its applications.”

Doug Halleaux, Public Affairs Officer for the Army’s CCDC GVSC, responded to The Black Vault with statements and a copy of the executed agreement. In addition, on behalf of the Army, he helped address still lingering questions about the overall situation, though some still remain.

“TTSA has a set of different materials, the properties of which they’re interested in investigating the properties. As materials research in general is of key interest to Army research, the Army is interested in any insights gained from investigating the properties of these materials, too,” Dr. Halleaux stated in an e-mail to The Black Vault. “In this case, the Army is providing the expertise and facilities to analyze the materials, and TTSA is providing the materials themselves; both parties receive the results of the analysis. Just as there is no financial compensation to TTSA for the use of the materials, there is no financial compensation to the Army for the use of the facilities.”

Although TTSA has its share of supporters, it is the part about “sharing” with the military that got other members of the social network universe up in arms.

TTSA has had a primary message that the military is hiding information about UAPs, and that has resonated with many of their fans along with their investors. However, now that TTSA has allegedly acquired physical pieces of the “phenomena,” to some, they are now just walking it all back through the doors of the military and sharing the discoveries with those they claim are hiding secrets from the public. Although TTSA did not respond to questions submitted by The Black Vault, the Army did weigh in on how they may benefit from the research results, and what they thought about the provenance of the material itself.

“As far as the materials– the Army’s interest is in the potential for novel materials and exploring the edges of materials science, any speculation as to their origin is (pardon the pun) immaterial. Our team is always excited to look at something new, whether it’s materials or technologies, capabilities or processes,” said Dr. Halleaux. “As materials research in general is of key interest to Army research, the Army is interested in any insights gained from investigating the properties of these materials, too. In this case, the Army is providing the expertise and facilities to analyze the materials, and TTSA is providing the materials themselves; both parties receive the results of the analysis. Just as there is no financial compensation to TTSA for the use of the materials, there is no financial compensation to the Army for the use of the facilities.”

Attorney and TTSA investor, Nathan Hendrickson, is not surprised by the news. “I knew that at the last shareholder meeting, TTSA was discussing their desire to own their own lab. One of the constant gripes has been the high cost of lab testing meta-materials,” Hendrickson told The Black Vault. “It appears that they have solved this problem by letting the US Army test their material so long as the Army gets to see and use any results.”

Although this news was expected by attentive shareholders, at least one of them is not keen on the apparent secrecy involved with the news. Hendrickson added, “While I am glad that a high-end Army research facility is going to look at the metal, I would’ve never known this by reading the TTSA press release. I wish I didn’t have to rely on others to do the investigating to answer questions that the company should be answering. In keeping with military tradition, TTSA is very ‘coy’, and that is infuriating to me.”

As for the metamaterial currently in the possession of TTSA, some of it is referenced as being “on loan” in recent SEC filings. The Black Vault reached out to someone associated with at least one of the pieces in TTSA’s possession, seeking comment on the news about this new agreement. This person requested they remain anonymous, and respectfully declined to comment due to the fact they signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with TTSA, which prohibits them from doing so.

This arrangement between TTSA and the Army is clearly unclassified. However, that seemingly does not take away from many elements of secrecy surrounding the agreement. Until curators of some of the material are able to talk; TTSA answers looming questions; and peer-reviewed scientific results are published… we may just be left to wonder on what is now going on inside Army laboratories.

The Agreement

U.S. Army Releases CRADA with To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science [26 Pages, 7MB]

Full Quotes from the Army Used Above

Initial Statement:

A CRADA is a mechanism for cooperative work between a government agency and another agency, either internal to the government or external, non-government. Our colleagues at Army Research Lab have a pretty good synopsis on their website (https://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=14) but CRADAs aren’t limited to ARL, they’re used across the various government R&D agencies and facilities. In essence, a CRADA brings together researchers for truly cooperative work between the agency and its partner without an exchange of funds, property, or other exchanges that would otherwise require a traditional contracting mechanism. Typically, CRADAs are used for out-of-the-box type work or leading-edge technologies where both parties have an interest in conducting research together for mutual information or investigatory benefit. An example I like to use is the CRADA that the Army enjoys with General Motors, specifically with regards to Fuel Cell research. General Motors’ Fuel Cell technologies are of interest to the Army, and the Army’s experience with off-road vehicles and operation is of interest to GM; the CRADA between the two afforded an opportunity to investigate the use of Fuel Cells for rugged, austere, off-road environments, providing insights that both GM and the Army benefit from.

A CRADA isn’t an endorsement mechanism– just as the Army doesn’t endorse General Motors or any other automobile manufacturer, the Army also doesn’t endorse its other cooperative partners. Specific to the To The Stars Academy CRADA, TTSA has a set of different materials, the properties of which they’re interested in investigating the properties. As materials research in general is of key interest to Army research, the Army is interested in any insights gained from investigating the properties of these materials, too. In this case, the Army is providing the expertise and facilities to analyze the materials, and TTSA is providing the materials themselves; both parties receive the results of the analysis. Just as there is no financial compensation to TTSA for the use of the materials, there is no financial compensation to the Army for the use of the facilities.

CRADAs can be built with just about any external entity within the limits of the law and reason, and when there’s an interest to both parties to do so. The Army forms CRADAs after careful consideration of the cost to the Army in terms of time and resources to the mutual research and the potential value to the Army of the research results.

Follow Up Statements:

As far as the materials– the Army’s interest is in the potential for novel materials and exploring the edges of materials science, any speculation as to their origin is (pardon the pun) immaterial. Our team is always excited to look at something new, whether it’s materials or technologies, capabilities or processes.