United States Space Force Guardians won’t be engaged in zero gravity combat with ray guns or light sabers – even as cool as that might sound. Yet, the U.S. DoD does see a need for high-tech weapons that can be employed in the space domain. And it will work with enterprises to develop those platforms.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon’s research and defense agency, has announced that is seeking “innovative concepts” that can be employed in the domain of “space superiority. As part of its Bringing Classified Innovation to Defense and Government Systems (BRIDGES) initiative, DARPA is now exploring “new methods and technologies that may provide warfighters with disruptive options for protecting and defending space systems across the competition continuum.”
It is a pilot effort that looks to connect innovation from small companies that traditionally do not work with the United States Government to classified DoD research and development (R&D) efforts.
“The goal is to connect innovators directly to the challenging problems that exist in the classified realm and to help develop solutions to those problems. BRIDGES aims to provide companies that demonstrate they can provide innovation and value to the DoD the means to obtain a facility clearance, and interact directly with DoD customers at classified levels,” DARPA explained on the BRIDGES landing page.
DARPA will conduct an initial round of evaluation on proposals received by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Oct. 1, and will continue to accept and evaluate proposals on a rolling basis until the final deadline of 5 p.m. ET on March 15, 2024.
Building BRIDGES to Space
The effort was launched last year, and it called upon companies to submit short (four pages or less) proposals based on topic areas provided by the government. After reviewing and evaluating the proposals, companies may be selected to join a consortium, where they can be sponsored for a facility clearance and provided access to classified work areas and networks where they can perform classified work
BRIDGES is seeking defensive and offensive weapons for both non-lethal and lethal applications.
Small Companies Clearing Big Hurdles
Working with smaller businesses in the past has caused some big headaches for DARPA. At issue is that the Pentagon can only engage with a relatively small number of small businesses that have security clearance for such projects.
BRIDGES could address that fact.
“Tremendous innovation is happening in the commercial space industry, yet long procurement timelines and a relatively small number of cleared companies can limit adoption of those new innovations in defense and government space initiatives,” said Air Force Maj. Michael ‘Orbit’ Nayak, program manager in DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office (STO).
“This means that potentially revolutionary concepts for space-based national security technology go untapped,” added Nayak. “We’re looking to flip that script, so that innovators who can provide the best ideas for the many unanswered questions and unique potential of the space domain have a seat at the table. We want to find solutions we didn’t even know we needed to establish and maintain superiority in space.”
Space Lasers – Well, Maybe!
DARPA hasn’t explicitly indicated what types of space weapons it would like to see developed. It might not exactly be space lasers able to start a wildfire, but then again it could be a laser or other directed energy weapon able to dismantle an adversary’s satellite in orbit.
The agency referred to a 35-page document from the United States Space Force
“Space operations are military actions, conducted across the competition continuum. They include both traditional and irregular warfare, to deliver effects to the joint force, to create a period of a relative degree of advantage of one force over another, and to support an environment of security that enables freedom of action for the Department of Defense (DOD) and its allies and partners,” the document noted.
It also addressed Combat Power Projection (CPP), and this suggested the shape that an offensive weapon could take – including a possible laser.
“Offensive operations target an adversary’s space capabilities using a variety of reversible and nonreversible means,” the document adds. “These may include actions to deceive, disrupt, deny, degrade, or destroy the adversary’s military space capabilities.”
Whether this does result in ray guns, light sabers, deflector shields, or other weapon systems from the domain of science fiction is yet to be seen. However, at one time 3D printers, video calls, and driverless cars were all just science fiction as well.
