defence

From http://www.darpa.mil/about.html:

DARPA is the research and development office for the U.S. Department of Defense. DARPA’s mission is to maintain technological superiority of the U.S. military and prevent technological surprise from harming our national security. We also create technological surprise for our adversaries.

DARPA funds unique and innovative research through the private sector, academic and other non-profit organizations as well as government labs.

DARPA research runs the gamut from conducting scientific investigations in a laboratory, to building full-scale prototypes of military systems. We fund research in biology, medicine, computer science, chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics, material sciences, social sciences, neuroscience, and more.

From Wikipedia: DARPA:

Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military. DARPA has been responsible for funding the development of many technologies which have had a major effect on the world, including computer networking, as well as NLS, which was both the first hypertext system, and an important precursor to the contemporary ubiquitous graphical user interface.

Its original name was simply Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), but it was renamed DARPA (for Defense) during March 1972, then renamed ARPA again during February 1993, and then renamed DARPA again during March 1996.

DARPA was established during 1958 (as ARPA) in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik during 1957, with the mission of keeping U.S. military technology more sophisticated than that of the nation's potential enemies.

From Wikipedia: Defence Materiel Organisation:

The Defence Materiel Organisation ('DMO') is the Australian Government agency responsible for the acquisition, through-life support and disposal of equipment for the Australian Defence Force. The DMO is part of the Australian Department of Defence, and manages the acquisition and support of a diverse range of materiel (equipment), including aircraft, ships, vehicles, electronic systems, uniforms and rations.

From Wikipedia: Royal Australian Navy:

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following federation of the Australian Colonies in 1901, the former colonial navies merged to become the Commonwealth Naval Forces. From this early fleet, the Royal Australian Navy was officially established in 1913 to become the new navy of the Commonwealth of Australia.

The Royal Navy continued to support the RAN and provide additional blue-water defence capability in the Pacific up to the early years of World War II. Then, rapid wartime expansion saw the acquisition of large surface vessels and the building of many warships and patrol boats. In the decade following the war the RAN acquired a small number of aircraft carriers, the last of these paying off in 1982.

From Wikipedia: Australian Defence Force:

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Air Force and a number of 'tri-service' units.

During the first decades of the 20th century, the Australian Government established three separate armed services. Each service had an independent chain of command. In 1976, the government made a strategic change and established the ADF to place the services under a single headquarters. Over time, the degree of integration has increased and tri-service headquarters, logistics and training institutions have supplanted many single-service establishments

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