Novel Sensing and Detection

With the blue water threat of free-ranging, nuclear-armed Soviet submarines coming to a head in 1971, the DoD assigned DARPA a singular mission: Revamp the U.S. military’s antisubmarine warfare (ASW) capabilities to track enemy subs under the open ocean where the U.S. Navy’s existing Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was falling short.

Leveraging past DARPA developments in laser-based versions of RADAR—known as LIDAR, short for light detection and ranging—the High-Altitude LIDAR Operations Experiment (HALOE) provided unprecedented access to high-resolution 3D geospatial data.

Before DARPA was established, a President’s Science Advisory Committee panel and other experts had concluded that reliable ballistic missile defense (BMD) and space surveillance technologies would require the ability to detect, track, and identify a large number of objects moving at very high speeds. Responding to these needs, DARPA in 1959 initiated a competition for the design and construction of a large, experimental two-dimensional phased array with beam steering under computer control rather than requiring mechanical motion of the antenna.

One of the world’s earliest and most well-known spy satellite programs, the now declassified Corona photo-reconnaissance program, was jointly funded by DARPA and the Central Intelligence Agency.

In collaboration with the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, DARPA initiated the Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (VADER) program to design and then deploy a radar system for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or small manned aircraft.