Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office

Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO) was an office within the United States Department of Defense, responsible to the Under Secretary of Defense. DARO was established on November 6, 1993. The office was created to provide increased support from senior management toward airborne reconnaissance systems. DARO had at the time of its first operation two offices, one of which was located within the Pentagon, with the other located at NRO Westfields facility. DARO were responsible for the budget and had oversight of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Program (DARP), a program with US$2 billion in funding.

According to U.S. DoD Directive 5134.11 the DARO 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, 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." DARO was a R & D and procurement office, comparible to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

The DARO 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 within DARO, for a time.

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