The DART achieves this overarching aim by enabling access to science and technology developments and by delivering analysis and experimentation in support of conceptual and doctrinal development.
The DART activity can be categorised under 4 main thrusts:
The DART are engaged in a range of experimentation activities that support DCDC product development.
The main areas of current engagement are through the Multi-National Experiment (MNE) series of NATO-run exercises and through the collaborative development of the 'Concept Test' toolset with Dstl.
Since the initiation of the Concept to Capability process by DCDC in 2006 there has been a drive to improve the concept development process by increasing their provenance, testing the ideas that evolve and creating a supporting evidence base.
The Science & Technology Trends Defence Implications (STTDI) programme of work was started in 2006 with the direct aim of supporting improvements to concept development by promoting innovation and the discussion of S&T.
This is now at a suitable level of maturity to enable testing of how the S&T detailed within the STTDI database might be used in future, in the form of Technology Assessment Seminars (TAS).
The TAS have evolved from the NATO Disruptive Technologies Assessment Games (DTAG) - part of the SAS 062, The Impact of Potentially Disruptive Technologies. The DTAG used Ideas of Systems (IoS) cards, each detailing a theoretical sysytem that could be employed by or against the military.