Darpa Pushes To Transition Technology | AVIATION WEEK

Darpa Pushes To Transition Technology | AVIATION WEEK:

"The key word in Darpa's name is 'projects,' says Welby. 'A project is something with a defined start, defined finish and clearly defined objectives. Something that can be written on a single piece of paper.' The goal is to 'prove the feasibility of a concept and take the specific technology risk off the table.'

Darpa's strength as an organization is in its structure, or lack thereof. The agency owns no facilities and has no infrastructure that needs long-term programs for support. Instead, it pursues high-risk, high-payoff research through short-term projects with aggressive technical goals. Project managers stay for only four years.

'They are all temporary hires,' says Welby, 'They are here to get something done. The clock is ticking, and there is personal pressure to advance the state of the art on very aggressive timelines.' Welby left Darpa at the end of July after an unusually long 11 years at the agency - first as program manager, then later as office director.

'You can change rapidly and move quickly when 25% of your people change out every year,' he says. 'You would never want to run a business this way, but for preventing technological surprise and being the engine of innovation - it's perfect.'"