Secretive U.S. defense agency needs underground tunnels for research – fast. But why?

DARPA, the secretive U.S. defense agency, tweeted a mysterious request this week for underground tunnels or facilities.

And it needs them fast.

The agency — formally known as the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency —advertised its request Thursday on Twitter. It needs applications by Friday. The agency is sometimes called the “mad science” division of the Pentagon, Engadget reported.

This is the same agency that’s researched high-energy lasers to stop missiles, flying trucks, packs of robotic animals for the battlefield and bullets that can change direction, according to Business Insider.

So, naturally, people questioned how DARPA planned to use the underground tunnels. Some speculated it could be related to Netflix’s “Stranger Things” or the recent horror film “Us” directed by Jordan Peele.

Others offered seemingly legitimate sites for the “research and experimentation.”

As it turns out, DARPA did provide more information about its intentions in the official request for proposal documents posted online. But the plans were broad.

“The subterranean domain – whether human-made tunnels, urban underground infrastructure, or natural cave networks – is becoming increasingly relevant for global security and disaster-related search and rescue missions,” the agency wrote in the request.

“As such, DARPA is interested in understanding the state-of-the-art in innovative technologies that have the potential to disruptively and positively impact how the underground domain is leveraged without prohibitive cost and risk to human lives.”

DARPA wants to experiment ways to “rapidly map, navigate and search” the unknown underground areas to find “objects of interest” — whatever they may be, according to the request.

Ideally, the agency wants an underground area that spans “several city blocks” with “multiple stories, including atriums, tunnels and stairwells.”

DARPA doesn’t want people around while its experimenting, though.

“Spaces that are currently closed off from pedestrians or can be temporarily used for testing are of interest,” the agency wrote.

This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Secretive U.S. defense agency needs underground tunnels for research – fast. But why?."