What We Do

DEVCOM ARL partners across the national security enterprise to deliver fundamentally advantageous change–change that is rooted in the creation and exploitation of scientific knowledge and delivered at the speed of relevance. This research is based on 11 competencies: Biological and Biotechnology Sciences; Electromagnetic Spectrum Sciences; Energy Sciences, Humans in Complex Systems; Mechanical Sciences; Military Information Sciences; Network, Cyber, and Computational Sciences; Photonics, Electronics, and Quantum Sciences; Sciences of Extreme Materials; Terminal Effects; and Weapons Sciences.

Foundational Research Competencies

DEVCOM ARL executes research in 11 competencies that provide the Army foundational expertise and specialized capabilities grounded in scientific excellence and driven by unique Army challenges. These competencies are: Biological and Biotechnology Sciences; Electromagnetic Spectrum Sciences; Energy Sciences, Humans in Complex Systems; Mechanical Sciences; Military Information Sciences; Network, Cyber, and Computational Sciences; Photonics, Electronics, and Quantum Sciences; Sciences of Extreme Materials; Terminal Effects; and Weapons Sciences.

Essential Research Programs

DEVCOM ARL’s Essential Research Programs (ERPs) are among the highest priority research efforts within the laboratory. They are actively managed transdisciplinary foundational research programs with an overarching outcome-driven plan and quantifiable research goals. They focus on answering challenging, high-risk questions that converge to provide research outcomes and shape concepts to curtail technological surprise, prevent overmatch, and get ahead of the threat before the threat is even aware of the technology.

The ERPs have been developed with the understanding that future warfare will be fought across all five domains (Land, Air, Sea, Space, and Cyberspace) and among three realms: the physical, the domain of activities defined in space and time by the laws of physics; the informational or virtual, the domain of activities defined by thought and perception; and cultural or human, the domain of activities defined by the interaction of people and societies.