Project X-Ray: When the U.S. Military Enlisted Bats

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, May 03, 2022 at 12:48 PM ET

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The Mexican free-tailed bat was chosen because of its sheer abundance. [Courtesy: U.S. Department of the Interior]

Key Takeaways:

During WWII, "Project X-Ray" was initiated based on a dentist's idea to weaponize Mexican free-tailed bats by attaching incendiary devices to them, aiming to cause fires in wooden Japanese cities.
The plan involved refrigerating bats into hibernation, equipping them with tiny bombs, and deploying them from canisters that would open at altitude, allowing the bats to disperse and ignite buildings.
Testing revealed numerous practical challenges, including bats failing to wake up, premature deployments causing accidental fires on the military base (including a hangar), and difficulties related to bat behavior and breeding cycles.
Project X-Ray was ultimately canceled in 1944 without combat deployment, as the military's focus shifted to the development of the atomic bomb.

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During wartime, there is no shortage of experimental airborne weapons. Some, like the so-called dam-busting bomb, are successful. Others, like the one that attempted to turn Mexican free-tail bats into weapons of war, not so much.

How it Happened

In January of 1942, America was reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor a month earlier, and the military was scrambling for ways to defend the United States.