Defense Advanced Research Project Agency: 50 Years of Bridging the Gap

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) - which came to be known as DARPA in 1972 when its name changed to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - emerged in 1958 as part of a broad reaction to a singular event - the launching by the Soviet Union of the Sputnik satellite on Oct. 4,1957. DARPAs primary mission is to foster advanced technologies and systems that create revolutionary advantages for the U.S. military. Consistent with this mission, DARPA is independent from the military services and pursues higher-risk research and development (RD) projects with the aim of achieving higher-payoff results than those obtained from more incremental RD. Thus, DARPA program managers are encouraged to challenge existing approaches and to seek results rather than just explore ideas. Hence, in addition to supporting technology and component development, DARPA has funded the integration of large-scale systems of systems in order to demonstrate what we call today disruptive capabilities. DEPOSITили