DARPA Disruption Opportunities Program Accelerates High‑Risk Science and Technology Research
On September 30, 2025, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released its newest program solicitation for its cutting-edge Disruptioneering initiative, which utilizes what it calls “Disruption Opportunities” that targets highly specific, high-risk-high-reward science and technology research projects. Disruption Opportunities (DO) are fast, utilizing Other Transaction contract vehicles to get funding out-the-door to award recipients within 120 days of opportunity publication.
CLARA: Compositional Learning-And-Reasoning for AI Complex Systems Engineering
The Disruptioneering program’s latest disruption opportunity is CLARA: Compositional Learning-And-Reasoning for AI Complex Systems Engineering, announced on February 4, 2026. The opportunity centers around fundamental research that moves artificial intelligence development beyond tacking “specialized automated reasoning (AR) components” onto general purpose large language models (LLM), due to the lower security and reliability that comes with that. CLARA aims to fund projects that integrate AR and machine learning components in a way that leads to high-assurance AI, systems with mathematically verifiable trustworthiness capable of use in defense and precision commercial applications.
Projects under CLARA may include, but are not limited to the following applications:
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Nate DiMelfi
Nate Dimelfi is a Senior Research Analyst in McAllister & Quinn’s Advanced Technology practice, providing analytical and organizational support to projects and clients. Nate also leads the Emerging and Critical Technologies Working Group, fostering collaboration and thought leadership on cutting-edge technology trends.