Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-115.166.21.215-20161005151230/@comment-26018514-20161005175215

I doubt that was his original purpose.... Remember, Ironwood was brought into the maiden secret because of the strides he made using this technology... which indicates the Technology predates said knowledge.

Now after he was brought into the fold he likely was planning on it but decided not to when the others needed a solution "right now" and found their champion... of course after Penny was shut down Pyrrha became the only option again anyways.

I'm pretty sure his own whims for the project are not the same as the lead scientist's and that the remaining backstory is likely something like  Astro-boy's... the military wants dispensible soldiers of far greater power while the scientist just wanted to bring back loved ones or transcend humanity.