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What is the DARPA Legacy?
In many ways, DARPA resembles more an investment firm than a traditional
Defense R&D organization. The agency's Director and senior managers
constantly collaborate with the Department of Defense's military and
civilian leadership and with other parts of the government to define
national security areas that require major change. DARPA then creates
programs and invests in teams of researchers at universities, laboratories
and companies to develop and demonstrate the high-risk, high-return
technologies that may enable quantum changes for the U.S. military. Once
DARPA has successfully demonstrated these technologies, they are further
developed by the military acquisition community or by private industry to
the point that they may be purchased and used by the warfighter.
As a result of this process, it is often difficult to recognize
technologies originally developed by DARPA by the time they transition
into products and systems for the military. Usually by that time, the
product or system has a new name and a new advocate. DARPA's investments
in the underlying technology, however, are responsible for the
availability of that improved military capability!
Last Updated: October 27,2003 |
