CRAZIEST DARPA Military Projects

From artificial immune systems, to hypersonic aircraft, these are the CRAZIEST DARPA Military Projects.

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10. WHAT IS DARPA?

DARPA stands for “Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,” and yes, it really is as cool as it sounds. Essentially, it is a giant think tank where some of the smartest people in the world get together and come up with new ideas for technology advancement. It is the U.S. Department of Defense agency responsible for improving national security through technology. DARPA has six offices, each with its own director and purpose. Nearly all of the people in leadership positions hold Doctorates in Philosophy and Science. Without a doubt, this agency is home to some of the most brilliant minds on the planet.

In 1957, the United States and the Soviet Union were in the thick of the “space race”: a series of “one-upping” between the two countries to see who can make it to space first. The Soviets won. They launched the first satellite in space ever, the Sputnik, and the whole world was shocked. The most shocked, however, was the United States. Lyndon B. Johnson was President at the time. He famously commented on “[t]he profound shock of realizing that it might be possible for another nation to achieve technological superiority over this great country of ours." Clearly, the U.S. took it pretty hard. But what came out of the shock was the beginning of DARPA. Literally. It was officially established only four months after the Sputnik was launched into space.

In a sense, the U.S. vowed to never again be second in technological advances. DARPA’s whole purpose was to be the first to create the most advanced technology on the planet, even if it means surpassing the U.S.’s needs. In other words, even if the U.S. is still the most advanced in technology, scientists at DARPA will never stop creating to avoid falling behind. Not that it’s a real competition, but there’s definitely an unspoken contest between the U.S. and other countries. DARPA exists to keep this country in first place.

8. MIND’S EYE

7. FALCON

6. VLSI

VLSI literally stands for very-large-scale-integration and it has everything to do with computer science in the ‘70s. It was a research project dedicated to advancing the microprocessor. A microprocessor is basically the heart of any normal computer. Several important computer advances came out of the VLSI Project, and it is revered as the most influential research project in the history of computers.

The VLSI project was kickstarted by the California Institute of Technology professor Carver Mead and computer programmer Lynn Conway. DARPA was involved because they funded Mead’s and Conway’s research. In fact, that’s what the whole project started out as. DARPA provided funding for several universities to research and develop a more advanced version of a computer microprocessor.

Not long into the project, Mead and Conway noticed that they didn’t have tools strong enough to handle the advanced technology they were developing. The only thing that could handle that amount of information and power was a supercomputer. Their goal was to make a supercomputer’s capabilities fit into any general computer. So, Mead and Conway used VLSI to fund other universities to create the equipment they needed.

This decision was a catalyst for computer programming to take off. Each university involved kept developing new and improved concepts. In turn, it had a ripple effect on the computer world and ultimately led to the companies that are still active today, like Sun Microsystems.

5. ARPANET

ARPANET, or “ARPA Network,” was the precursor to the Internet that we all know today. ARPA is the title of the umbrella research project, and it stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency. It is basically DARPA without the “D”.

Ideas and research on a worldwide computer network started in the ‘60s. Back then, communicating with people across the country was still possible, it was just complicated and tedious. Computers used to be very large, and only one of them could be used for each location. For example, if someone was talking to two people at once over the computer network, but they were in two geographically different locations, two machines would have to be used. ARPANET sought to make communication to several locations possible on one machine.

Bob Taylor, who is known as a pioneer that paved the way for the Internet, came to DARPA first. He convinced the Director to give him a budget so that he can develop the ARPANET. It took two years for Taylor to solidify a plan and get it signed off by the Director. Not many people were on board with it, and the ARPANET had a very small number of supporters. But by 1969, a seven-person team got to work on building the Internet, and it was completed in nine months.

4. BOEING X-45

3. LRASM

2. F-X PROGRAM

1. HELLADS

[WorldUnearthed]

FACTUAL ERROR : Lyndon Baines Johnson was not the President of the United States in 1957 when the Soviets launched Sputnik. Dwight David Eisenhower was the American President then. At that time, Johnson served as the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. The quote mentioned in the video is from him.

[diGritz]

Craziest? You mean the craziest we know about.

[ericbartol]

1:36 - "DARPA's whole purpose was to create the most advanced technology on the planet, even if it meant surpassing the country's needs." Well, you got that one right. It has certainly succeeded in achieving that goal. The country's needs are certainly WAY behind their output.

[J-Rod]

At 4:13 who else immediately thought about Dexter yelling at Dede to “GET OUT OF MY LABORATORY!” Pronounced Lah-bore-ah-tore-e like this narrator!! Lol

[butlerproman]

None of these strike me as "crazy". This is where our technology is today, and these projects are exploring the cutting edge of that technology.

[dustinmurphyable]

Wait. I thought Al Gore created the internet 😂

[caseyford]

I love advanced tech. I'd love it more if we actually used it to overcome all our issues. and I know we could.

[SECUP]

The video has the official narrative. But the US was happy with Sputnik. They were waiting for such an event. Now it was much easy for them to raise funds for military projects. And they didn't have to worry about being perceived as the aggressors if they had launched the first satellite. There were also some issues with overflight that they didn't want to be the first to deal with.

[TomSpurlock]

FYI, LBJ was not president in 1957 when Sputnik was launched. It was Eisenhower who was president.

[simonbroberg]

I thought it was the Scots that invented the first robot that thought like a human, in grumbles when you turn it on, and even gets the shakes until it had its first bottle of whiskey.

[davidmyersretiredaerospace]

I worked on strange things at Lockheed Martin.

[dustinmurphyable]

These are the public projects. Not even close to the top craziest ones. Still super cool. Great videos

[Dios]

The funny thing with Sputnik was that the US could have easily put a satellite into space but they were working on other things ATT.

[WorldUnearthed]

What superpower would you like to have ? I think living forever with an off switch would be cool

[arkyump]

I thought Al Gore invented the internet? lol

[einsteindrieu]

I've heard of the 747 Laser stuff 30 years ago !

[abelieversperspective]

Sputnik was launched on October 4, 1957 and Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, not Lyndon B. Johnson.

[rudolphsteiner]

The airborne laser was actually built and flight tested... the program was then canceled... I know this because I personally worked on it.

[jobanhify]

2:30 okay that’s how the terminator started...

[richardroad]

Lazer has a very promising project. Imagine a war with unlimited bullets