ARL (Army Research Laboratory)

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory’s Army Research Laboratory (ARL) mission is to serve as the Army’s principal extramural basic research agency in the engineering, physical, information and life sciences; developing and exploiting innovative advances to insure the Nation’s technological superiority. Basic research proposals from educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and private industry are competitively selected and funded. ARL’s research mission represents the most long-range Army view for changes in its technology. ARL priorities fully integrate Army-wide, long-range planning for research, development, and acquisition. ARL executes its mission through conduct of an aggressive basic science research program on behalf of the Army so that cutting-edge scientific discoveries and the general store of scientific knowledge will be optimally used to develop and improve weapons systems that establish land force dominance. The ARL research program consists principally of extramural academic research efforts consisting of single investigator efforts, university-affiliated research centers, and specially tailored outreach programs. Each approach has its own objectives and set of advantages. Programs are formulated in consultation with the Army Research Laboratory Directorates; the Research, Development and Engineering Command’s Research, Development and Engineering Centers; the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; the Army Corps of Engineers; and the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. The programs are also jointly coordinated and planned through the Defense Science and Technology Reliance process under the Basic Research Panel.