DefenceTalkFor decades, U.S. military air operations have relied on increasingly capable multi-function manned aircraft to execute critical combat and non-combat missions. Adversaries’ abilities to detect and engage those aircraft from longer ranges have improved over time as well, however, driving up the costs for vehicle design, operation and replacement. An ability to send large numbers […]https://www.defencetalk.com/gremlins-could-enable-cheaper-more-effective-distributed-air-operations-65257/

DefenceTalkA robot from South Korea took first prize and two American robots took second and third prizes here yesterday in the two-day robotic challenge finals held by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Twenty-three human-robot teams participating in the DARPA Robotics Challenge, or DRC, finals competed for $3.5 million in prizes, working to get through […]https://www.defencetalk.com/robots-from-south-korea-u-s-win-darpa-finals-64435/

DefenceTalkDARPA’s Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program, which developed a self-steering bullet to increase hit rates for difficult, long-distance shots, completed in February its most successful round of live-fire tests to date. An experienced shooter using the technology demonstration system repeatedly hit moving and evading targets. Additionally, a novice shooter using the system for the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/exacto-guided-bullet-demos-repeatable-performance-against-moving-targets-64011/

DefenceTalkClose air support (CAS)-delivery of airborne munitions to support ground forces-is difficult and dangerous because it requires intricate coordination between combat aircrews and dismounted ground forces (for example, joint terminal attack controllers, or JTACs). DARPA’s Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) program focuses on technologies to enable sharing of real-time situational awareness and weapons systems data […]https://www.defencetalk.com/darpa-demos-persistent-close-air-support-system-63872/

DefenceTalkState-of-the-art military sensors today rely on “active electronics” to detect vibration, light, sound or other signals. That means they constantly consume power, with much of that power and time spent processing what often turns out to be irrelevant data. This power consumption limits sensors’ useful lifetimes to a few weeks or months when operating from […]https://www.defencetalk.com/asleep-yet-aware-electronics-could-revolutionize-remote-wireless-sensors-63855/

DefenceTalkAs modern software systems continue inexorably to increase in complexity and capability, users have become accustomed to periodic cycles of updating and upgrading to avoid obsolescence-if at some cost in terms of frustration. In the case of the U.S. military, having access to well-functioning software systems and underlying content is critical to national security, but […]https://www.defencetalk.com/darpa-seeks-to-create-software-systems-that-could-last-100-years-63850/

DefenceTalkFor decades, the United States has successfully countered the threats of competitor nations by harnessing advanced technologies to create exceedingly robust and capable military platforms. But as advanced technologies have become more readily available to adversaries on commercial markets, the Nation’s focus on ever more complex weapons systems has become not just a strength but […]https://www.defencetalk.com/operating-in-contested-environments-63782/

DefenceTalkDARPA’s Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program seeks to develop a new type of unmanned surface vessel that could independently track adversaries’ ultra-quiet diesel-electric submarines over thousands of miles. One of the challenges that the ACTUV program is addressing is development of autonomous behaviors for complying with the International Regulations for Preventing […]https://www.defencetalk.com/automated-lookouts-for-unmanned-surface-vessels-63675/

DefenceTalkToday’s national security landscape challenges the Defense Department with threats ranging from low-tech, lone-wolf terrorists and high-tech peer adversaries to extremist groups that use both approaches, like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency prepares for them all. DARPA Director Dr. Arati Prabhakar spoke here recently with CNN […]https://www.defencetalk.com/21st-century-darpa-tool-could-work-against-isis-63370/

DefenceTalkThrough its Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) program, DARPA has been developing new concepts and architectures to get small satellites into orbit more economically on short notice. Bradford Tousley, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, provided an update on ALASA at the 18th Annual Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/alasa-getting-closer-to-delivering-big-things-in-small-packages-to-space-62930/