But the language can be deceiving.

Googling the first three words — synthetic biology tools — yields research in the field of Biofuels. Even the "bioprocessing" part of the request equates to sources of "efficient" fuels in austere conditions. As we've covered most recently, the military is under tremendous pressure to curb its consumption of traditional fossil fuels.

Along with that, it's under even more pressure to reduce casualties on the battlefield — arguably the number one metric aside from monetary cost which affects public resistance to foreign military expeditions.