ARLINGTON, Va., 4 July 2012. Electronic warfare experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., are asking industry for help in finding ways to detect and counter digitally programmable radar systems that have unknown behaviors and agile waveform characteristics.

DARPA experts will brief industry on the upcoming Adaptive Radar Countermeasures (ARC) program during proposers day meetings from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.on 10 July at the DARPA building, 675 North Randolph St., in Arlington, Va. Briefings will be classified, so anyone attending must have at least a secret clearance with the U.S. Department of Defense (story continues below).

DARPA officials say they expect to release a formal solicitation for the ARC program before 10 July. The ARC program seeks to develop electronic warfare (EW) capability to counter hostile adaptive radar systems based on their over-the-air signals.

Today's airborne EW systems are proficient at identifying analog radar systems that operate on fixed frequencies. Once they identify a hostile radar system, EW aircraft can apply a preprogrammed countermeasure technique.

Yet the job of identifying modern digitally programmable radar variants using agile waveforms is becoming more difficult. The ARC program seeks to enable systems to generate effective countermeasures automatically against new, unknown, or ambiguous radar signals in near real-time.

The program will develop new processing techniques and algorithms that characterize enemy radar systems, jam them electronically, and assess the effectiveness of the applied countermeasures.

The DARPA proposers Day will include overview presentations, a networking session, and an opportunity to participate in one-on-one meetings with the ARC program manager.

Those interested should register for the ARC proposers day no later than 5 July -- which is tomorrow -- online at https://caci-conferences.com/Default.aspx/arc201207.

Those interested in bidding on the ARC program but who cannot attend the industry-day briefings may request materials after 11 July by e-mail at ARC@darpa.mil. All questions regarding the Proposers’ Day should be sent to ARC@darpa.mil. E-mail questions or concerns to DARPA at ARC@darpa.mil.

More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/DARPA/CMO/DARPA-SN-12-46/listing.html.

Follow Military & Aerospace Electronics and Avionics Intelligence news updates on Twitter