DARPA Announces Laguna, a Future Program for Domestic Specialty Chemical Manufacturing

Katie Cunningham, Growth Marketing Manager

Giacomo Apadula, Chief Executive Officer

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has issued a Special Notice for Laguna, a forthcoming Biological Technologies Office (BTO) program focused on manufacturing defense-relevant specialty chemical products from abundant domestic feedstocks. The anticipated 36-month effort would integrate synthesis, processing, formulation, and validation to produce application-ready materials with fewer intermediate separations and processing steps.

Laguna targets foreign supply-chain dependencies affecting coatings, adhesives, resins, polymers, and other materials used to sustain defense systems. Resulting products must meet or exceed the critical performance requirements of incumbent military materials while providing economically viable domestic alternatives.

Program at a Glance

Detail	Information
Program / Special Notice	Laguna / DARPA-SN-27-15
DARPA office	Biological Technologies Office
Anticipated duration	36 months
Current stage	Future Program Announcement
Program contact	Dr. William Mounfield, BTO Program Manager
Updates	Email [email protected] to join the program update list

Status: This Special Notice is for information and program planning. It is not a solicitation or Request for Information, and DARPA will not accept submissions against it. Any future solicitation will be posted on SAM.gov and will take precedence over the notice.

What Will Laguna Focus On?

Many specialty chemical products used in defense applications depend on fine-chemical intermediates and formulations sourced through vulnerable foreign supply chains. Laguna seeks integrated manufacturing approaches that convert U.S.-produced inputs directly into finished formulations, reducing waste and minimizing or eliminating intermediate chemical isolation and purification.

The notice identifies four target application areas:

Protective and functional coatings for aircraft, ground vehicles, maritime systems, and infrastructure.
Composite resins and adhesives for lightweight structural assemblies, repair, and bonding.
High-performance polymeric materials and molded structural components.
Non-fluorinated replacements for fluorinated polymers used in chemically resistant, thermally stable, low-friction, barrier, dielectric, and water- or oil-repellent applications.

Eligible feedstock categories described in the notice include both biological and petrochemical bulk products produced entirely in the United States. Examples include sugars, ethylene, and benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX). The program therefore encompasses manufacturing approaches using either biological or petrochemical inputs.

How Is the Program Expected to Be Structured?

Laguna will pursue its objectives through two technical areas:

Technical area	Planned focus
TA1: Make & Formulate	Develop and demonstrate fully formulated, defense-relevant specialty products from U.S.-produced raw materials. Approaches will be evaluated through comprehensive technoeconomic analysis, life cycle assessment, and commercialization strategy plans.
TA2: Model	Develop models connecting feedstocks, synthesis, formulation, processing, cost, and final product properties and performance. Government partners, federally funded research and development centers, National Labs, and university affiliated research centers will work with TA1 teams to develop predictive tools.

The notice describes TA2 as a government-partner modeling effort. It does not establish an open industry proposal opportunity for that technical area.

What Should Prospective Teams Evaluate?

The published goals make integration central to program fit. Prospective teams should consider how their manufacturing approach connects domestic feedstocks to a fully formulated product, which processing or purification steps it could eliminate, and how the resulting material would be validated against defense performance requirements.

The planned technoeconomic and life cycle assessments also make cost and environmental performance relevant to early preparation. Useful groundwork includes identifying domestic input sources, documenting incumbent material benchmarks, and assessing partnerships needed to connect synthesis, formulation, manufacturing, and application testing.

The notice does not specify funding amounts, award structure, detailed eligibility requirements, or proposal deadlines. Those details remain subject to a future solicitation, which DARPA is not obligated to issue. Interested organizations can email [email protected] to request future updates, including any Industry Day announcement or solicitation publication.

EverGlade is a national advisory firm helping innovators and investors navigate the federal funding and financing ecosystem. We support companies across the funding lifecycle, from early-stage strategy through proposal development, negotiations, and program execution.

For additional information on where your capabilities could plug into this upcoming program, schedule a conversation with our team.

Collaborate with EverGlade

We partner with life sciences and technology innovators to secure and execute funding for high-risk, high-impact programs across the federal and commercial sectors.