Leidos Awarded DARPA Contract to Develop Advanced Protective Equipment for US Military

Leidos, a FORTUNE® 500 science and technology leader, was recently awarded a prime contract by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for their Personalized Protective Biosystem (PPB) program. Through this award, Leidos will develop technology that reduces the need for burdensome protective equipment while increasing defense against both existing and future chemical and biological (CB) threats. This three-phase, five-year cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has a total ceiling value of $19.3 million.

“Leidos thrives at tackling the world’s toughest challenges; in this case, protecting frontline personnel against emerging threats with a revolutionary approach to personal protection equipment,” said Leidos Chief Technology Officer Jim Carlini.

DARPA’s PPB program addresses the national need for lightweight and adaptive personal protection equipment for military and healthcare personnel. The recent pandemic highlighted this challenge on a global scale.

Through this award, Leidos is launching a combination of innovative, robust and flexible platforms known as SPIDERMAN (Smart Protective Integrated Dynamic Ensemble for Reactive, Multifaceted Agent Neutralization). The technology comes in the form of both lightweight protective materials and tissue-protective countermeasures. It enables CB threat protection without prior knowledge of the agent’s nature. The goal is to create new and improved ways to address different, emerging and uncharacterized threats through advanced technology.

“Leidos has assembled a world-class team and is proud to lead the execution of this revolutionary program,” said Dr. John Dresios, Executive Biology Director and Principal Investigator for the Leidos PPB team. “SPIDERMAN has the potential to deliver transformative advancements that will provide broad and specific, as well as rapid and sustainable protection against chemical and biological threats. We’re excited to help engineer new ways to protect the military and our nation.”