DARPA in the market for ‘revolutionary’ ideas for improving military tech
The agency’s Tactical Technology Office is hosting a proposers’ day in April to inform contributors about strategy and portfolios for emerging technologies.
Got an idea for how to give the U.S. military an edge? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to hear from you, hosting a proposers’ day in mid-April aimed at exploring emerging technologies and capabilities as well as informing contributors about the government’s strategy and portfolio.
The Tactical Technology Office, which focuses on the development and demonstration of innovative system-level prototypes to preserve military superiority, is calling for executive summaries, white papers and proposals for advanced research, development and demonstration of innovative systems for military missions.
Among TTO’s cross-cutting themes such as agile development, cost inversion/imposition, autonomous/cooperative unmanned systems, weapons, and power and propulsion, the office is looking for contributions in:
- Ground Systems, which involve soldier and squad technologies, combat vehicles and tactical operations in urban and complex environments.
- Maritime and undersea systems that expanded platform performance, cross-domain applications and defense of maritime forces.
- Air systems for novel air vehicles, including hypersonic platforms.
- Space systems involving spacecraft technologies, space situational awareness, systems for access, and future space operations.
DARPA and military contractors already are researching technologies min some of these areas, including high-speed vertical-lift aircraft, long-range underwater unmanned vehicles and hypersonic aircraft. But the agency says it’s important for the military to stay ahead of the curve.
“DARPA is always on the lookout for the next revolutionary ideas that could redefine the state of the art for the capabilities, development times and cost of military systems,” said TTO Director Brad Tousley. “TTO’s annual Proposers Day offers the best opportunity to learn how to share these audacious, visionary system concepts with DARPA and take the first steps toward transforming them into reality.”
Details are forthcoming in a broad agency announcement. The proposers’ day will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, April 20 and 21, 2016.