RFI for Advanced Penetration Physics and Shock Propagation Control

Background
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking innovative approaches to redefine penetration mechanics and shock propagation control in solids. This Request for Information (RFI) aims to identify disruptive technologies that can advance the state of the art in these areas, with a focus on new concepts that go beyond traditional methods.

Work Details
The RFI invites submissions that explore mechanisms for shaping, steering, amplifying, or suppressing stress waves in both homogeneous and heterogeneous materials. Key areas of interest include:
- Transient material state manipulation under extreme loading conditions.
- Non-linear and anisotropic wave control.
- Dynamic impedance matching.
- Controlled failure initiation and progression.
- Coupling of structural, material, and geometric effects for enhanced performance against complex targets.

Respondents are encouraged to propose fundamentally new approaches rather than incremental improvements that could significantly enhance penetration efficiency, predictability, or controllability beyond current paradigms. Additionally, enabling technologies such as architected materials, novel fabrication methods embedding function into structure, advanced diagnostics for high-strain-rate phenomena, and control strategies treating shock propagation as a design variable are of interest. Submissions should demonstrate credible physical grounding and a path to experimental validation.

Period of Performance
The RFI does not specify a period of performance as it is primarily focused on gathering information from potential respondents.

Place of Performance
The RFI does not specify geographic locations for performance but indicates that responses will be evaluated by DARPA and potentially other U.S. Government partners.

Bidder Requirements
Organizations must be capable of performing work at least to a collateral secret level to submit white papers. Respondents must clearly link their proposals to the topics outlined in the RFI description and adhere to submission format guidelines including page limits and document labeling requirements.