DARPA Picks 9 Firms for Dismounted Squad Threat Detection Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded nine companies contracts to build new systems for dismounted service personnel to collaborate with other troops and detect potential threats during military operations.

DARPA said Thursday it made the awards through the agency’s Squad X Core Technologies program to develop lightweight, integrated platforms that will work to provide situational awareness functions for soldiers and help them control and understand their mission environments through research in four technical areas.

These research areas include the disruption of adversary’s command and control and communications systems, detection of potential threats and target engagement through the use of guided munitions.

“Our goal is to develop technologies that support a three-dimensional common operating picture leveraging input from integrated mobile sensors, as well as the ability to organically locate and identify friendly forces and threat locations in near real time,” said Maj. Christopher Orlowski, a program manager at DARPA.

Phase one contract recipients under the SXCT program are:

• Helios Remote Sensing Systems
• Kitware
• Leidos
• Lockheed Martin
• Raytheon
• Scientific Systems
• Six3 Systems
• SoarTech
• SRI International