Although they have been working together on the Constellation pilot program since 2022, the U.S. Cyber Command and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently deepened their ties with an agreement on future planning necessities.
Constellation is a pilot program meant to get cyber technologies out of research and onto the cyber battlefield quicker. Notable for its user-directed pipeline and incremental process, the program aims to speed up software adoption at all levels of the process, from creation to demonstration to delivery.
“We’re talking about the rapid expansion of the art of the possible by partnering directly with the people persistently pushing the technological beyond its limits, conversely informing and challenging those advancements through an operational lens to maximize the balance between the art and science of cyber in support of national security,” Lt. Gen. William Hartman, deputy commander of Cyber Command, said during a keynote address at the 2024 RSA Conference. “Through Constellation, we are taking the most promising technology from across the DARPA portfolio and developing critical capabilities under focused projects to accelerate direct delivery capability to the warfighter.”
Since 2022, Constellation has helped multiple projects to develop through the Orion Consortium, a body responsible for choosing DARPA projects and consisting of both DARPA performers and Cyber Command developers. Two additional projects are pending awards. The first pilot project therein also delivered an operational prototype successfully after six months.
The partners want to keep that level of turnaround going.
“Continuous delivery of robust S&T cyber capabilities requires a pipeline model that mitigates research risk and creates necessary connections between end users and research teams,” Dr. Kathleen Fisher, Information Innovation Office director, said. “You can be on the cutting edge of technology development by participating in DARPA-funded efforts, many of which ultimately help shape and provide the technologies necessary for national security.”