DARPA transfers new tactical data-sharing software to DoD

A US marine operates an Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK) during a May 2021 multilateral assault exercise with Australian, French, and Japanese forces at Kirishima Maneuver Area. (US Navy/DARPA)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has recently transitioned control of experimental software, designed to streamline and secure data sharing between US and allied forces at the tactical level, to the US Department of Defense (DoD).

Programme officials at DARPA officially handed over the Secure Handhelds on Assured Resilient networks at the tactical Edge (SHARE) programme to the department's Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) Product Center in late June, according to an agency statement.

The TAK centre will now lead ongoing integration efforts to get the SHARE software into current and future command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems and platforms.

“SHARE brings next-generation networking technology to the TAK ecosystem,” Ryan McLean, director of the TAK Product Center, said in the statement. The data-sharing software “is now primed for rapid technology transition to the TAK user community” and is expected to be included in the TAK 5.0 software upgrade package, scheduled for delivery by November 2023, McLean added.

The SHARE software variant developed by Virginia-based Two Six Technologies, in conjunction with Eucleo Software Corporation and MAPPS, Inc, was the version handed over to the TAK Product Center, according to DARPA.

“SHARE built on process lessons learned from industry and tech from previous DARPA programmes such as Tactical Ground Reporting System (TIGR) and Transformative Applications (TransApps) to create a breakthrough capability for secure data sharing at the tactical edge,” the statement noted.