Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
U.S. Department of DefenseBiography
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) agency charged with seeking breakthrough concepts and technologies with broad applicability against threats to national security.
DARPA invests primarily in the early technology development phases of programs and the demonstration of prototype systems.
DARPA works to complement the DoD CBRN Defense Program by anticipating threats and developing novel defenses against them. The agency coordinates with the services and other agencies, including the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for CBD and DTRA Chemical & Biological Technologies Directorate (DTRA-CB) to avoid duplication of efforts and to maximize effectiveness of resources.
DARPA’s programs are conducted under the oversight of six technical offices: the Defense Sciences Office, the Information Innovation Office, the Microsystems Technology Office, the Strategic Technology Office, the Tactical Technology Office, and the agency’s most recent addition, the Biological Technologies Office.
In 2014 DAPRA merged components of several program offices into a new Biotechnology Technologies Office (BTO) to foster innovations related to biological sciences. BTO’s investment portfolio goes far beyond life sciences applications in medicine to include areas of research such as human-machine interfaces, microbes as production platforms, and deep exploration of the impact of evolving ecologies and environments on U.S. readiness and capabilities.
The agency supports approximately 240 government employees, about half of whom are program managers. Its research is conducted by a wide array of public- and private-sector performers via 2,000 contracts, grants and other agreements.
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Editor’s Picks: Articles related to DARPA. Links may lead to external sites.
- Pentagon’s AI Program to Find Hidden Nuclear Missiles (Jul 2018)
- DARPA Awards IMPROV 2 Contract to Two Six Labs (May 2018)
- SIGMA Program Completes Testing of Ambulance-Mounted ‘Dirty Bomb’ Detectors (Mar 2017)
- DARPA Academic Research Roundtable (Jan 2017)
- Modeling Adversarial Activity to Counter Weapons of Mass Terrorism (Oct 2016)
- DARPA Field Tests Networked Radiological Detectors with NY Port Authority (Aug 2016)
- Portable Device Produces Biopharmaceuticals on Demand (Jul 2016)
- DARPA Awards SIGMA Contract to Proportional Technologies (Jul 2016)
- DARPA Brings Down the HAMMER on Malaria (May 2016)
- DARPA Wants To Transform Chemical War Sites Into Fertile Soil (May 2016)
- DARPA INTERCEPT Program for Biodefense Countermeasures (Apr 2016)
- DARPA’s Biotechnology EZ BAA Streamlines Proposal Process (Mar 2016)
- Arktis Radiation Detection System Passes DARPA Design Review (Sep 2015)
- Intense and Compact Neutron Sources (Apr 2015)
- SRI Biosciences DARPA Fold F(x) Synthetic Polymers Contract (Feb 2015)
- Agnostic Compact Demilitarization of Chemical Agents (Feb 2015)
- Robots Learn To Perform Tasks by “Watching” YouTube Videos (Jan 2015)
- Speedy, Agile UAVs Envisioned for Troops in Urban Missions (Dec 2014)
- ElectRx Has the Nerve to Envision Revolutionary Therapies for Self-Healing (Dec 2014)
- DARPA Biotechnology EZ BAA Cuts the Red Tape (Nov 2014)
- Using Light Frequencies to Sniff Out Deadly Materials from a Distance (Oct 2014)
- DARPA CHIKV Challenge to Address Threat of Chikungunya (Aug 2014)
- DARPA Award to Agentase for Wearable CBRN Surveillance Suits (Apr 2014)
- DARPA Launches Biological Technologies Office (Apr 2014)
- Mighty Micropumps: Small But Powerful Vacuum Pumps Demonstrated (Jun 2013)
- Rapid Threat Assessment Could Mitigate Danger from Chem-Bio Warfare (May 2013)