DTRA BASIC RESEARCH
Abstract
The Basic Research for Countering WMD project, as the nation’s primary basic research portfolio dedicated to countering weapons of mass destruction (CWMD), is a core strategic investor in future scientific and technological progress across the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) mission areas. This project concentrates on high-risk, high-payoff basic research, leveraging world-class expertise in academia, government, and industry, to increase the foundational body of scientific knowledge supporting DTRA’s Applied Research and Advanced Technology Development projects. This project aligns with DTRA’s strategic objectives that support policy and planning guidance from the Executive Office of the President, the DoD, and the broader WMD threat reduction community. The portfolio addresses this guidance through capability enhancements, projects, and Science and Technology (S&T) investments that support CWMD. Specifically, they include: accelerating the development of standoff radiological/nuclear detection capabilities; securing vulnerable materials; defeating WMD agents; strategic radiation hardened microelectronics; and leveraging science, technology, and innovation through domestic partnerships and agreements. This project solicits, coordinates, and conducts research to build a robust, forward-looking fundamental research portfolio targeting strategic, mission-focused, basic research with high potential impact for CWMD. The research projects are selected for scientific merit, technical quality, and the potential for innovation. Each research project offers opportunities to expand the knowledge base to help the warfighter, to bring to bear new science solutions with a fresh approach, or to leverage revolutionary approaches to technical surprise, building a foundation for future CWMD solutions. This research will enable new capabilities to control, defeat, disable, and/or dispose of WMD threats.
Document Details
- Document Type
- R2 Budgetary Justification
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2024
- Source ID
- 0601000BR_1_0400_PB_2024
- Change Summary Explanation
- The increase in FY 2024 from the previous President's Budget funds additional post-doctoral expertise while expanding basic research activities in the University Research Alliances (URAs). Additional resources fund enhancements for strategic competition to sustain global scientific enduring advantage in support of future warfighting. This will enable fundamental research in nuclear detonation plume modeling and radiological signature analysis to leverage novel Machine Learning techniques and automate discovery and manufacturing of new radiation-sensitive materials, reducing the cost of deployed radiation detectors by a factor of 10. This increase is funded predominately by decreased investment in Project RR: Countering WMD Test and Evaluation in PE 0602718BR.
- Service Agency Name
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Entities
Organizations
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
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