The Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office was an office within the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

, responsible to the

Under Secretary of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive branch department of the Federal government of the United States, federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

. It was established on November 6, 1993. The office was created to provide increased support from senior management toward airborne

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

systems. At the time of its first operation, it had two offices, one of which was located within

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

, with the other located at the National Reconnaissance Office Westfields facility. The office was responsible for the budget and had oversight of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Program, a program with 2 billion in funding. According to U.S. Department of Defense directive 5134.11 the office was empowered to "management oversight of the development and acquisition of all joint Military Department and Defense-wide airborne reconnaissance capabilities, encompassing manned and

unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

, their sensors, data links, data relays, and ground stations, to include modifications of Military Department- and Defense Agency-unique ground stations to achieve and maintain interoperability." The office was a

R & D Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

and

procurement Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, Service (economics), services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agenc ...

office, comparable to the National Reconnaissance Office. The office was created in response to a communication from the Congressional Authorization Conference stressing a military attitude of the post-Cold War, that "tactical reconnaissance is relatively more important to national security than at any other time in our history". K. Meiners held the position of Director of Advanced Technology for a time.profile
published and written by the

Office of the Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Comm ...

etrieved 2015-12-10/ref>

References

{{Authority control United States Department of Defense agencies United States defense procurement Geospatial intelligence organizations Geographic data and information organizations in the United States Aerial reconnaissance Reconnaissance units and formations