MORSE Corp Wins DARPA Albatross Award to Develop Distributed AI-Driven ISR Systems

DARPA has selected MORSE Corporation as a prime contractor for its ambitious Albatross program—an initiative aimed at developing scalable, autonomous intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities through distributed sensing and advanced artificial intelligence. The award underscores the U.S. Department of Defense’s push toward resilient multi-domain situational awareness in contested environments.

Albatross Program Overview: Scalable Autonomy for ISR

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the Albatross program in 2023 under its Strategic Technology Office (STO), targeting a critical gap in current ISR architectures: the inability to scale and adapt autonomously across dynamic operational environments. The core vision is to enable large numbers of heterogeneous platforms—ranging from UAVs to unattended ground sensors—to self-organize into mission-effective ISR constellations without centralized control.

According to DARPA’s official description, Albatross aims to develop “autonomous systems that can reason about mission objectives and constraints while adapting their behavior dynamically.” Key goals include:

Distributed decision-making across platforms with minimal human oversight
Autonomous tasking and retasking of assets based on real-time operational context
Scalable architecture capable of handling dozens or hundreds of nodes
Resilience against adversarial disruption including electronic warfare or GPS denial

The program is divided into three technical areas (TAs): TA1 focuses on autonomy algorithms; TA2 on system integration; and TA3 on testing/evaluation in live environments. MORSE Corp was selected under TA2 as a prime integrator.

MORSE Corp’s Role and Capabilities

MORSE Corporation—short for Modern Operations Research Solutions Engineering—is a Massachusetts-based defense technology firm specializing in autonomy software, AI/ML integration, modeling & simulation (M&S), and advanced analytics. The company has previously supported DARPA programs such as OFFSET (Offensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics) and SCEPTER (Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence).

Under the Albatross award, MORSE will lead efforts to integrate autonomy frameworks developed by other performers into scalable system-of-systems architectures. This includes:

Designing modular interfaces for cross-platform interoperability
Implementing real-time data fusion pipelines across edge devices
Enabling adaptive mission planning via onboard AI agents
Supporting live-fly testing with surrogate UAVs and sensor nodes

MORSE will also contribute its proprietary simulation environment—which supports digital twins of multi-agent systems—for pre-deployment validation of autonomous behaviors at scale.

Tactical Implications for Multi-Domain Operations

The Albatross initiative aligns with broader U.S. military doctrine shifts toward Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). As peer adversaries invest heavily in anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities—including jamming, spoofing, cyber attacks, and kinetic threats—traditional centralized ISR models become increasingly brittle.

By enabling autonomous coordination among dispersed assets—even under degraded communications—the Albatross framework could offer several tactical advantages:

C4ISR Resilience: Nodes can operate semi-independently if disconnected from central command.
Saturation Resistance: Swarm-like behaviors make it harder for adversaries to target all assets simultaneously.
Cognitive Overmatch: Onboard AI enables faster OODA loops than human-in-the-loop systems alone.
Civil-Military Fusion Potential: Dual-use applications in disaster response or border monitoring could follow.

If successful through Phase I–III testing cycles over the next several years, technologies from Albatross may transition into service-level programs within U.S. Air Force or Army Futures Command portfolios.

Technical Challenges Ahead

The promise of distributed autonomous ISR is significant—but so are the hurdles. Among them:

Spectrum Management: Coordinating RF emissions among dozens of nodes without interference requires dynamic spectrum allocation strategies.
Adversarial Robustness: Ensuring AI agents do not degrade under spoofed inputs or sensor deception remains an open research problem.
Lethal Autonomy Boundaries: While DARPA emphasizes non-lethal ISR use cases here, future integration with kinetic effects raises ethical concerns about machine decision-making thresholds.
Sustainment & Logistics: Deploying large numbers of low-cost but capable platforms poses logistical challenges around power management, maintenance cycles, and secure comms provisioning.

DARPA’s phased approach—with extensive simulation followed by controlled field trials—is designed specifically to address these complexities before any operational transition occurs.

A Broader Ecosystem of Performers

MORSE is not working alone. Other performers reportedly involved in various technical areas include Raytheon BBN Technologies (TA1), Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Johns Hopkins APL, Leidos Dynetics Group, Shield AI subsidiary Martin UAV (for flight testing), and small business innovators like Anduril Industries contributing edge-AI modules or mesh networking solutions. While specific subcontractor roles remain undisclosed due to classification or competition sensitivity, DARPA typically fosters collaborative ecosystems across academia-industry-government lines within such programs.

This cross-pollination is essential given the need for interoperability across legacy platforms like MQ-9 Reapers or RQ-21 Blackjack drones—and future entrants such as attritable Group III UAVs or loitering munitions operating autonomously at tactical edge levels.

Outlook: From Prototype to Operational Capability?

The timeline for tangible outputs from Albatross remains fluid but typically follows DARPA’s standard three-phase model over ~48 months:

Phase I – Concept Development & Simulation Validation (~12 months)
Phase II – Hardware Integration & Controlled Testing (~18 months)
Phase III – Field Demonstration & Transition Planning (~18 months)

If successful through all phases—and if transition partners are secured—Albatross-derived technologies could inform future programs such as the Army’s Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN), USAF Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), or even Navy Distributed Maritime Operations concepts involving unmanned surface vessels with onboard sensors acting as networked nodes.

Conclusion: Toward Autonomous ISR Constellations

MORSE Corp’s selection as a prime integrator under DARPA’s Albatross program marks a strategic step toward realizing truly distributed autonomous sensing architectures that can operate effectively without persistent human direction—even amid contested battlespaces. As near-peer threats evolve rapidly across electronic warfare domains and kinetic theaters alike, enabling resilient machine-driven ISR may prove decisive in maintaining information dominance at tactical speeds.