DARPA projects

The Multiprogram Research Facility (MRF, also known as Building 5300) is a facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It is used by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to design and build supercomputers for cryptanalysis and other classified projects. It houses the classified component program of the High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) project sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The Astra Rocket was a small-lift space launch vehicle series designed, manufactured, and operated by American company Astra (formerly known as Ventions). The rockets were designed to be manufactured at minimal cost, employing very simple materials and techniques. They were also designed to be launched by a very small team, and be transported from the factory to the launch pad in standard shipping containers.

A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a brain–machine interface (BMI), is a direct communication link between the brain's electrical activity and an external device, most commonly a computer or robotic limb. BCIs are often directed at researching, mapping, assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions. They are often conceptualized as a human–machine interface that skips the intermediary of moving body parts (e.g. hands or feet). BCI implementations range from non-invasive (EEG, MEG, MRI) and partially invasive (ECoG and endovascular) to invasive (microelectrode array), based on how physically close electrodes are to brain tissue.

The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) was a planned spaceflight demonstration mission under the joint auspices of DARPA, NASA, Lockheed Martin, and BWX Technologies, aiming to demonstrate nuclear thermal propulsion in orbit by 2027. DRACO was expected to be the first in-orbit test of a nuclear thermal rocket engine using low-enriched uranium, and its reusability and performance were projected to significantly outpace current chemical propulsion systems. Launch operations were to be supported by the U.S. Space Force, with the Vulcan Centaur rocket identified as the planned launch vehicle. In 2023, NASA formally joined the DRACO program, seeking to leverage nuclear propulsion to drastically reduce travel time to deep-space destinations such as Mars. Nuclear thermal propulsion was expected to yield two to three times the efficiency of chemical propulsion, with mission durations to Mars potentially cut in half. DARPA program manager Tabitha Dodson remarked that nuclear propulsion could form the foundation for evolving systems such as fusion-based spacecraft, enabling more ambitious human exploration missions with greater safety margins. According to Lockheed Martin and BWXT, there were considerable efficiency and time gains from the nuclear thermal propulsion. NASA believed the much higher efficiency will be two to three times more than chemical propulsion, and the nuclear thermal rocket is to cut the journey time to Mars in half.

The GBA-DARPA Heliplane was a proof-of-concept, long-range, VTOL aircraft intended to cruise at twice the speed of conventional helicopters. It was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and designed by Groen Brothers Aviation (GBA), which has since been re-branded as Skyworks Global.

The AstroFlight Sunrise was an uncrewed experimental electric aircraft technology demonstrator and the first aircraft to fly on solar power.

Lockheed Have Blue was the code name for Lockheed's proof of concept demonstrator for a stealth fighter. Have Blue was designed by Lockheed's Skunk Works division, and tested at Groom Lake, Nevada. The Have Blue was the first fixed-wing aircraft whose external shape was defined by radar engineering rather than by aerospace engineering. The aircraft's faceted shape was designed to deflect electromagnetic waves in directions other than that of the originating radar emitter, greatly reducing its radar cross-section.

The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, re-enters Earth's atmosphere, and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in collaboration with the United States Space Force, for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies. It is a 120-percent-scaled derivative of the earlier Boeing X-40. The X-37 began as a NASA project in 1999, before being transferred to the United States Department of Defense in 2004. Until 2019, the program was managed by Air Force Space Command.

Sea Hunter is an autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USV) launched in 2016 as part of the DARPA Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program. The ship was christened 7 April 2016 in Portland, Oregon. It was designed and built by Leidos. The vessel continues the line of experimental "Sea" ships, including Sea Shadow, Sea Fighter, Sea Jet, and Sea Slice. Sea Hunter is classified as a Class III USV and designated the Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MDUSV).

The Liberty Lifter is a U.S. military Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project, launched in mid-2022, to develop a low-cost seaplane that uses the ground effect to travel long distances.