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If this were a traditional-direction probe and drogue refueling, would it really take more than a year to set up a flight test and two years to field? I’m calling BS on this. If this is what DARPA is spending its money on, it needs a nickel’s worth of common sense, not more taxpayer dollars.

A lot of people thought that the X-37 and X-51 would not work and it did. The organization who did the scientific reaserch and made it work was DARPA.They make miracles.

DARPA’s mission is to maintain technological superiority of the U.S. military and prevent technological surprise from harming our national security.

Here its success list:
Project AGILE
ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet
Aspen Movie Map
Boeing X-45
CPOF - the command post of the future - networked information system for Command control.
DAML
DARPA Grand Challenge - driverless car competition
DARPA Network Challenge
DEFENDER
High Performance Knowledge Bases
HISSS
Hypersonic Research Program
I3 (Intelligent Integration of Information), supported the Digital Library research effort through NSF
Internet
Project MAC
MQ-1 Predator
Multics
NLS/Augment, the origin of the canonical contemporary computer user interface
Onion routing
Passive radar
Policy Analysis Market
POSSE
Rapid Knowledge Formation
Sea Shadow
Strategic Computing Program
Synthetic Aperture Ladar for Tactical Applications (SALTI)
SURAN (1983–87)
Project Vela (1963)