DARPA

The next frontier in unmanned aerial vehicle tech is all about keeping these aircraft fueled indefinitely. If we can crack it, drones could stay in the air longer, avoid landing to recharge, and carry on with their missions without interruption.

There are all kinds of critical infrastructure lying underwater – road and rail tunnels, pipelines for oil and gas, dams, and more. Could we simply 3D print such projects beneath the surface of the ocean? Cornell University is about to find out.

An armband-mounted electronic patch uses motion and muscle sensors, a Bluetooth controller, and a stretchable battery to control tech. Thanks to AI-screening of data-noise, a shaky controller no longer means shaky control.

Through its Tactical Technology Office (TTO), DARPA wants to move drones to the next level with its Lift Challenge – a US$6.5-million competition aimed at creating small drones capable of lifting payloads four times their weight.

DARPA's X-65, that replaces conventional aircraft flight controls with puffs of air, is coming together at Boeing subsidiary Aurora’s Bridgeport, West Virginia facility. The fuselage is taking shape and awaits its radical wing design.

Star Catcher Industries has set a new record for beaming power at a distance. Its Star Catcher Network technology beamed 1.1 kW of power at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida using off-the-shelf solar panel components.

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky is blurring the line between helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft with its new Nomad family of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) that combine the versatility of a helicopter with the speed and endurance of a fixed-wing aircraft.

DARPA's autonomous Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV), the USX-1 Defiant, took a major step toward operational status as a bottle of spirits was broken over its bow at the Everett Ship Repair in Everett, Washington on August 11, 2025.

Bell's revolutionary X-plane rotorcraft has received the green light to progress to the building and testing of a demonstrator aircraft. DARPA has down-selected the craft to move to Phase 2 of the agency's Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) program.

If you've been hoping for a long-range, low-cost, heavy-lift seaplane using Wing-In-Ground effect (WIG), you'll have to be patient because DARPA has confirmed that it has cancelled its US$98-million Liberty Lifter project.

In an effort to supercharge the development of military drones, DARPA will this year fast track flight testing of five advanced Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) prototypes as part of the agency's Early VTOL Aircraft Demonstration (EVADE) project.

Looking forward to a future where laser beams replace power lines, DAPRA's Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program has set new records for transmitting more power wirelessly over longer distances.