DARPA technical accomplishments: an historical review of selected DARPA projects

358 Pages·1990·19.43 MB·English

by  Sidney G. Reed

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IDA PAPER P-2192 -
DARPA TECHNICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
AN HISTORICAL REVIEW OF SELECTED DARPA PROJECTS
Volume I
Sidney G. Rw"'
:Richard H. Van Atta
Seymour J. Deitchman
February 1990
Preparedf or
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
91-08740
INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE ANALYSES
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1. AGENCY USE CNLY (LeaVe bWakJ) 2RERT DATE 3.RPRTYPE AND DATES COVERED
February 1990 FIA--October 1988-December 1989
4. TITLE AND SU7TiTLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS
DARPA Technical Accomplishments C -MDA 903 840C0031
An Historlsal Review of Selected DARPA Proje.-ts Volume I
6. AUThI'JR(S) T - DARPA Assignment A-I 19
Sidney G3. Reed, Richard H. Van Atta, Seymour J. Deitchman
71F. ERFORMMN OW~ANUZT-td NAME(S) =N 156RES~EW, S. PRr4RHNU ORGAUNIZAON
Institute for Defense AnaiysesREOTNMR
1801 N. Beauregard Street !DA Paper P-a2192
Alexandria. VA 22311
9. SPOrJSORINGIMON111ORMfG AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. $rO'4S01UNG4AONITORING
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency AGENCY REPORT NUMSER
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Ainclngor., VA 22209-2308
11 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
120L _DISTRIBUTIOtW!AVALAB5LIY STATEMENT 112b. DI~rR!9UT1ON CODE
Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.
1?. ABSTRACT (Maxknmm 200 W~ds)
This is the first volume of a planned two-volume histMr of selected DARPA projects and programs that were
undertaken from the agency's inception 10 the present day. The purpose 6f this history is to record, for projects
and programs having important out1puts and for which adequate and appropriate data could be gathered, the
chronological and technical histories in such a way that~(a) the influence of the projects or programs on defense
and civilian technology could be traced,, anJ (b) implementation lessons could be extracted that would help
DARPA manage future programs in such a way as to enhance their chances of success.
This volume describes the genesis of the study, the approach thai waý"iaken in carrying it out, and program
histoiies of 28 DARPA projects. Eac i history describes the genesis of the project or program, the major
participants and events in Ats lifetime, ý.nd contains a flow diagram illustrating the complex of interactions among
organizattons over time that characterizze ths project. Each project review ends with observations about 'the
project's success and the nalture of its impact. Volume 11d, ue in June 19 90,-will present 27 &dditional histories, in
the same format, and will synthesize the observationa about success and influence in such a way thai DIARPA can
apply the results to future program management. ,,'- -- I
1k SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA proj~ects. 5
lessons leamned, observations 1S. PRICE COWG
17. 3~URPULMA SIFICATU i&N1 .secUATFCLAW~F.ZATION is. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION -9 UM CAfON OP ATSiT__Af!
OF REPMR or Me PAGE OF ABSTRACT
[_UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED UNCLAS3!FIED A
NS 7540-01-2WO5!=0 Starsdard Form 2W8 TQ. 2-09)
Xen.ibed byA N& S4cZ M.I
IDA PAPER P-2192
DARPA TECHNICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
(cid:127)N HISTORICAL REVIEW OF SELECTED DARPA PROJECTS
Volume I
Sidney G. Reed
Richard H. Van Atta
CO C.
Seymour 3. Deitchmar,
01
February 1990 .
L
4r
V *
* If 'i*
IDA
!NSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE ANALYSES
Contract MDA 903 84 C 003!
DARPA Assignment A-119
ABSTRACT
This is the first volume of s, planned two-volume history of selected DARPA
projects and programs that were u-ndo-taken from the agency's inception to the present day.
The purpose of this history is to record, for projects and programs having important
outputs and for w'hich adequate and alpropriate data could be gathered, the chronological
and tecbnicz. lustories in such a way that (a) the influence of the projects or programs on
defense and civilian technology could be traced, and (b) implementation lessons could be
extracted that woula help DARPA manage future programs in such a way as to enhance
their chances of success.
This volume describes the genesis of the study, the approach that was taken in
carrying it out, and program histories of 28 DARPA projects. Each history describes the
genesis of the project or program, the major participants and events in its lifetime, and
contains a flow diagram illustrating the complex of interactions among organizations over
time that characterize the project. Each project review ends with observations about the
project's success and the nature of its impact. Volume II, due in June -1990w, ill present
27 additional histories, in the same format, and will synthesize the observations about
success and influence in such a way that DARPA can apply the results to future program
management.
ii
CONTENTrS
Abstract ........................................................................................... miii...
PART ONE: STUDY OVERVIEW
Purpose and Scope ............................................................................ 1
Study Approach ................................................................................ 3
Volumt: I (Prc posed Approach and Outline) ............................................... 9
PART TWO: PIOGRAM ASSESSMENTS
A. SPACE
I. A RGUS ............................................................................... 1-1
Annex ................................................................................. 1-17
II. TIROS Weather Satellites ........................................................... 2-1I
III. TRANSrr Navigatio.n Satellite ..................................................... 3-1
IV. CENTAUR ........................................................................... 4-1
V. SATURN ............................................................................. 5-1
B. DEFENDER: ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE
VI. ESAR Phased Array Radar ......................................................... 6.1
VII. TABSTONE Infrared Measurements .............................................. 7-1
VIII. High Energy Lasers .................................................................. 8-1
IX. OTH Radar ............................................................................ 9-1
X. AMOS: ARPA Midcourse Optical Station ....................................... 10-1
Annex ............................................................................... 10-11
V
C. VELA: NUCLEAR TEST MONITORING
'XI. VELA, ^otel Satellites .............................................................. 11-1
XII. VELA Uniform: WWNSS ........................................................ 12-1
XIII. VELA Unifoz=: The Very Large Arrays, LASA ar.d NORSAR ............. 13-1
D. AGILE: VIETNAM WAR PROGRAMS
XIV. Impact on M-16 Rifle ................................. 14-1
Annex...................................... 14-11
Annex ............................................................................... 14-11
XV. Camp Sentinel Radar ............................................................... 15-1
XVI. The X-26B-QT-2 .................................................................... 16-1
XVII. Pocket VEITO: Balloon-Borne Radar ............................................. 17-1
E. INFORMATION PROCESSING
XVIII. ILUAC IV ........................................ 18-1
XIX. Project MAC: Computer T'he Shamg .......................................... 19-1
XX. ARPANET ........................................ 20-1
XXI. Artificial Intelligence ................................................................ 2 i-
XXII. Morse Code Reader ..............................................................22-1
XX III. ACCAT ............................................................................... 23-1
F. NAVAL TECHNOLOGIES
XXIV. LAMBDA: Large Aperture Towed Arrays ...................................... 24-1
XXV. SLCSA .......................................... 25-1
G. TACTICAL TECHNOLOGIES
XXVI. Ta,k Breaker ........................................................................ 26-1
XVII. HIMAG /HSVT-L ..................................... 27-1
XXVIII. M ini-RPV's .......................................................................... 28-1
vi
PART ONE: STUDY OVERVIEW
PURPOSE AND SCOPE
DARPA began in 1958 as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) with
the mission of creating a U.S. capability to launch and use spacecraft, after the Soviet
Sputnik launch. Subsequently it was given a broader charter, to advance defense
technology in many critical areas and to help the DoD create military capabilities of a
character that the Military Services and Departments were not able or willing to develop for
any of several reas ons: because the risks could not be acccpted within the limits of Service
R&D and procurement budgets; because those budgets did not allow timely enough
response to newly appearing needs; because the feasibility or military values of the new
capabilities were not apparent at the beginning, so that the Services declined to invest in
them; or because the capabilities did not fall obviously into the mission structure of any one
Service, so that there was no eager, ab initio source of support for development and
operational trial.
ARPA's charter, therefore, came to include several means by which the agency,
whose name was changed to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
in 1972, could undertake new projects and programs. These included assignrmer.t by the
President, the Secretary of Defense or his senior technical subordinates, requests by
Congress ir by the Services, or work undertaken on DARPA initiative (ratified by the
Secretary of Defense and the Congress in the budget approval process if by no other
means) if the agency saw that a military need could be met with a technological edvance
that was not being explored or exploited. In all the cases related to Service missions, -Y. en
"chose where there was initial Service opposition to an idea, the agency established :me
appropriate relationship with the Services and Military Departments, as a matter of
stimulating their support, capitalizing on their knowledge and often on theiz personnel and
facilities, and ulticately of interesiing them in using the results of the projec-s and
transferring the products to them for exploitation and use. Jn other cases, such as the broad
DARPA program on nuclear test monitoring, DAn.PA has established, similar relations to
appropriate non-defunse agencies.
1
In these modes DARPA undertock, over the years until now, hundreds of projects
and programs,1 some large and some small, in arris such as Ballistic Missile Defense,
Nuclear Test Monitoring, counterinsurgency warfare in Southeast Asia, -advanced
information processing, advanced naval technologies, advanced technologies applicable to
tactical and strategic land and air warfare systems, and basic research in such areas as
materials, underwater phenomenology and the phenomenology associated with observation
from space, to mention just a partial list. The output from these efforts has been
prodigious, and it has had a profound impact on the world of defense technology and often
on civilian technology as well.
One purpose of this task has been to trace that impact. It has sought to learn howa(cid:127)
representative sampling of projects interacted with the world of "users" to affect the
technology available to them and how they applied that techwfology in systems and
equipment.
In some cases the output of DARPA projects was accepted dL-ectly. In others, the
influence of DARPA projects that were not transferred explicitly for use may nevertheless
have been felt indirectly in changing the direction of at,a rea of military R&D or the form
of military systems as articulated in industry's systems design concepts and
implementation. In still other cases technological advances that were clear and apparent
improvements over earlier approaches emerged from DARPA projects and were adopted
because they did represent such advances. Finally, even some projects that appeared
initially to have been failures have been found on deeper exploration to have made
themselves fe!t over time in many indirect ways.
In all cases there were complex interactions among DARPA, the Services, the
academic world and defense as well as civilian industry. Given the multifaceted nature of
the influcnc,, DARPA can have in the course of these interactions, the tracing of influence
of DARPA work is not a straightr)rward task. Views of influence vary with participating
individuals, many related efforts outside DARPA interacted with the DARPA efforts
themselves, and only in some cases is ther' a clear path from genesis of an idea to its direct
and apparent use.
Frcm this, a second purpose of this task has been to delineate the nature of
DARPA's influence and to draw from that lessons that can help DARPA consciously
I A program isa collection of interrelated projects in a single subjec: area.
2
manage the formulation of its program and the guidance of projects so as to maximize the
acceptance and use of the prograr's results. Thus, the overall report will describe the
histories of the individual projects selected for review, and it will draw from the histories
some lessons that migit be learned about success, impact and scientific and technological
influence. It will then aggregate those lessons into a more complete overview that attempts
to answer the questions regarding the second objective.
This is the first of two volumes presenting the histories of specific projects and
programs, from the point of view of learning how the DARPA efforts influenced the
defense and civilian technological worlds. This volume describes 28 projects, grouped to
correspond to the larger program areas of which they were part, drawn mainly, but not
exclusiveiy, from the first two thirds or so of the 1958-1988 period. Thus, many of the
projects reviewed have been completed and the outcome of their impact is mostly apparent.
The projects in this volume are listed in Table L Each project history describes the genesis
of the project, the major participants and events in its evolution and its applications or
adaptation into other technical work, to the extent they are known. Each includes an
organization/time flow chart that illustrates the environment and the complex inteithanges
in the project's genesis, execution and influence )n other efforts. Each history ends with
brief observations about its "success."
Volume II, to be published in June 1990, will present 27 additional project
Pistoiies, listed in Table II, in the, same format and will also include brie f %ccounts of the
broader programs' histories, and a comprehensive analysis of the lessons about the extent
and success of technology transfer, and the influence of DARPA, that have been learned
from reviewing the histories of all the individual projects.
STUDY APPROACH
The projects studied were selected by the IDA project team, and DARPA
management working togethe, based 9zwtwo criteria: (a) their impoW.ance, judged on the
basis of evidence in attestation and docart-ntation; and (b) the expected availability of dAta.
The data available would have to contain sufficient information to permit elucidation of
DARPA's role ard contribution, wacing the paths of technical events through ultimate use,
assessmtnnt of the impact and spin-offs of the output, and clear enough records to permit
evaluation of lessons learned from the outcome. The lists shown in Tables I and II resulted
3