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Orbital Construction: DARPA Pursues Plan for Robust Manufacturing in Space

As commercial space companies increase the cadence of successful rocket launches, access to space is becoming more routine for both government and commercial interests. But even with regular launches, modern rockets impose mass and volume limits on the payloads they deliver to orbit. This size constraint hinders developing and deploying large-scale, dynamic space systems that can adapt to changes in their environment or mission.

DARPA’s Operational Fires Ground-Launched Hypersonics Program Enters New Phase

DARPA’s Operational Fires (OpFires) program, which is developing a ground-launched intermediate-range hypersonic weapons system, is advancing to a new phase. Phase 3b will involve full-scale missile fabrication, assembly, and flight testing from a launch vehicle. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control was awarded this new contract modification after leading a successful Phase 3a integrated system preliminary design review that resulted in a comprehensive design and test plan.

DARPA Opens Door to Producing “Unimaginable” Designs for DoD

DARPA’s TRAnsformative DESign (TRADES) program, which began in 2017, set out to develop foundational design tools needed to explore the vast space opened by new materials and additive manufacturing processes commonly called 3D printing. The program recently concluded having successfully developed new mathematics and computational techniques, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, that will allow future designers to create previously unimaginable shapes and structures of interest to defense and commercial manufacturing.

FETT Bug Bounty Helps Strengthen SSITH Hardware Defenses

After three months of reviewing more than 13000 hours of hacking exploits conducted by more than 580 cybersecurity researchers, DARPA today announced that its Finding Exploits to Thwart Tampering (FETT) Bug Bounty successfully proved the value of the secure hardware architectures developed under its System Security Integration Through Hardware and Firmware (SSITH) program while pinpointing critical areas to further harden defenses.

DARPA Program to Offer Near Immediate Doses of Vaccine, Therapeutics for Infectious Diseases

The U.S. military routinely deploys throughout the world where warfighters can potentially be exposed to regional endemic diseases as well as chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) threats. Rapid access to medical countermeasures (MCMs) against these threats is critical to protect Defense Department (DoD) personnel and local populations; however, manufacturing, stockpiling, and distribution issues remain.

DARPA Selects Performers to Advance Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Project

DARPA has executed contract options to continue the Manta Ray project that began in 2020. The effort seeks to demonstrate innovative technologies allowing payload-capable unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to operate on long-duration, long-range missions in ocean environments. The three prime contractors will be Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Martin Defense Group, LLC (formerly Navatek, LLC), and Metron, Inc.