Opportunities for Funding and/or Engagement

DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO) creates advanced platforms, weapons and space systems to help preserve U.S. military superiority through overwhelming technological advantage. However, constantly evolving technologies, shifting warfighter mission requirements and limited budgets mean TTO must always seek new ways to leverage innovation while fulfilling its duties.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrate the strategic significance of tactical actions by junior and noncommissioned officers who interact with local populations. This kind of interaction benefits from extensive cultural training, but opportunities for such training are limited by the compression of the Department of Defense’s force-generation cycles. Virtual training simulations provide a partial solution by offering warfighters on-demand, computer-based training, but creating such tools currently requires substantial investments of time, money and skilled personnel.

A group of early-career scientists at research universities have received grants totaling more than $12 million for basic research to address some of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) most challenging technological hurdles. From 226 applicants, 25 tenure-track faculty members were selected to receive up to $1 million each over the course of three years. The technology areas they will investigate align with DARPA's future program directions and were chosen with the ultimate goal of going beyond current research and providing new paths forward to realize tomorrow’s national security capabilities.

Recipients of the DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) visited the United States Military Academy at West Point during its first Branch Week, September 10-15, 2013. The event brought “several hundred tons of military equipment, vehicles and weapons for the academy’s spin on a college career fair,” according to a West Point news article.

DARPA defines its research portfolio within a framework that puts the Agency’s enduring mission in the context of tomorrow’s environment for national security and technology. An integral part of this strategy includes establishing and sustaining a pipeline of talented scientists, engineers, and mathematicians who are motivated to pursue high risk, high payoff fundamental research in disciplines that are critical to maintaining the technological superiority of the U.S. military.