DARPA, CYBERCOM Sign Partnership Program to Accelerate Cyber Technology Development

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command have signed a binding partnership agreement to advance their Constellation pilot program designed to accelerate the delivery of cyber technologies to the Department of Defense.

 Launched in 2022, the program lays the path for rapidly developing cyber solutions from concept to application, with mechanisms that can open opportunities to cyber technology companies and academics to land DOD projects, DARPA said Tuesday.

At the 2024 RSA Conference of cybersecurity professionals in early May, William Hartman, CYBERCOM’s deputy commander, said Constellation is about a direct partnership with people determined to push cyber technology “beyond its limits” to accelerate capability delivery to warfighters.

Constellation provides a user-directed pipeline for new cyberspace competencies to CYBERCOM’s software ecosystem for the command’s selection. DARPA personnel and CYBERCOM developers will collaborate under the program’s Orion Consortium for the technology execution and delivery. 

Constellation proposals for cyber solutions can be channeled through DARPA’s Opportunities page. Organizations without previous dealings with the agency can use the resources of DARPAConnect.

Kathleen Fisher, DARPA’s Information Innovation Office director, said the agency’s funded projects put their participants “on the cutting edge of technology development” including efforts to contribute to national security.