WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Defense is close to expanding its legendary future warfare and technology agency DARPA by combining it with the Pentagon office in charge of adapting existing weapons to new uses, people familiar with the plans said. Reuters reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
28 May 2019 -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) would absorb the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) and centralize more research units under the Pentagon's Chief Technology Officer Michael Griffin.
The combination would end an experiment with SCO that began as an attempt to adapt to future threats quickly and with less bureaucracy. SCO reported directly to the secretary of defense, removing it from traditional bureaucratic channels at the Pentagon. The SCO is charged with developing unexpected and game-changing capabilities to counter emerging threats.
If all of SCO's $1.3 billion 2020 budget request were transferred to DARPA, the research agency would gain control over 37 percent more funding on top of its 2020 funding request of $3.5 billion. The SCO has looked into projects like swarming small drones and transforming the Raytheon Co-made Standard Missile 6, a defensive weapon, into an offensive weapon.
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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
