Sea
Since our founding in 1942 as a research center to support the U.S. Navy, we have served as a trusted resource for national priorities in the maritime domain. We foster collaboration and innovation in a broad range of areas—such as maritime situational awareness, oceanography, kinetic and non-kinetic effects, submarine technology, autonomy, and marine biology—to address challenges in all types of oceans, and from the surface to the seabed.
Explore Mission Areas
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Sea Control →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Sea Control Mission Area supports U.S. Navy and joint service missions, delivering essential capabilities to project military power on, under, and above the seas.
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Strategic Deterrence →
Building on six decades of vital contributions to the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Ballistic Missile program, Johns Hopkins APL’s Strategic Deterrence Mission Area is transforming strategic systems from their legacy nuclear mission to a broad set of responses to current and future national security challenges.
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Research and Exploratory Development →
The Research and Exploratory Development (RED) Mission Area is Johns Hopkins APL’s research engine. We conduct pioneering research targeting game-changing breakthroughs to benefit national security missions.
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Precision Strike →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Precision Strike Mission Area delivers critical precision strike contributions, addressing tactical aircraft, kinetic and non-kinetic weapon systems, and end-to-end capability development and demonstration.
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Air and Missile Defense →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Air and Missile Defense Mission Area creates advanced technologies and capabilities to protect U.S. and allied fleets and deployed forces from air and missile attack.
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Related News
![Maddison Harman, a marine biologist, shows a coral sample in APL’s NAMI facility.]()
Related NewsCoastal Defenders: Protecting the Nation’s Coasts with Natural Solutions Jan 24, 2023
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APL’s groundbreaking undersea research and development provided the foundation for the powerful long-range towed arrays in use throughout the U.S. Navy today.
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The NAMI marine research, investigation, and experimentation lab is a fully functioning marine molecular microbiology and analytics facility.
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The annual Submarine Technology Symposium, organized by APL and sponsored by the Naval Submarine League, brings together military, industry, and academic leaders to discuss the future of undersea technology.
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![Sonar screen (Credit: Bigstock)]()
Featured Project
Integrated Undersea Surveillance Systems → Dec 14, 2017
We are solving critical challenges for the Navy’s undersea surveillance community, making contributions such as active and passive sonar processing algorithms for inclusion in the Advanced Surveillance Build tactical sonar modernization program.
Land
We coordinate deep engineering and data analysis expertise to deliver solutions—such as breakthroughs in countering improvised explosive devices, operational analysis of national security challenges, and tools to support first responders—that improve security at home and abroad.
Explore Mission Areas
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Homeland Protection →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Homeland Protection Mission Area develops impactful capabilities that protect the U.S. from asymmetric threats by global competitors and foreign or domestic violent extremist organizations that target our safety, democratic processes, and way of life.
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National Security Analysis →
Johns Hopkins APL’s National Security Analysis Mission Area combines innovative technical knowledge and operational analysis to create emerging capability solutions to national security challenges, thereby ensuring our nation’s preeminence in the 21st century.
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Special Operations →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Special Operations Mission Area creates and enables asymmetric capabilities for the special operations community through objective technical expertise, development of emerging technologies, and quick-response solutions.
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Related News
![Johns Hopkins APL Uses AI to Track Greenhouse Emissions]()
Related NewsJohns Hopkins APL Uses AI, Satellite Images to Track Greenhouse Emissions Nov 9, 2022
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Scientists and engineers at APL have created “Oz,” a capability that can arm responders with crucial information by computing the impact of disaster damage on a given mission. (Credit: Johns Hopkins APL)
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APL provided key contributions to the development of a nuclear threat assessment instrument. The device, selected as a winner of the 2021 R&D 100 Awards, allows first responders to assess the threat level posed by a suspected nuclear weapon.
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APL researchers are applying expertise in sensing and modeling to predict Earth system changes, providing data to support decisions on the national security aspects of mitigating effects of climate change.
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![EMAPS technology allows operators to map areas and confined spaces that GPS cannot "see."]()
Featured Project
Enhanced Mapping and Positioning System (EMAPS) → Mar 16, 2013
We continue to strengthen EMAPS, a portable mapping system carried in a backpack, for the Department of Defense’s Chemical and Biological Defense Program.
Health
We devise new approaches and technologies to secure individual and global health, and support the health and care of our nation’s warfighters. Our work addresses the nation’s most critical health challenges, including monitoring fatigue to reduce the risk of injury, tracking the global spread of diseases, and measuring the effects of climate change on human and environmental health.
Explore Mission Areas
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National Health →
The National Health Mission Area at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory aims to revolutionize health through science and engineering.
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Research and Exploratory Development →
The Research and Exploratory Development (RED) Mission Area is Johns Hopkins APL’s research engine. We conduct pioneering research targeting game-changing breakthroughs to benefit national security missions.
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Related News
![Researchers at Johns Hopkins APL led the development of the Modular Prosthetic Limb, pictured here, as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program. Five recent peer-reviewed publications provide a snapshot of advances in neural interface technologies, building on work that originated under this effort. Credit: Johns Hopkins APL/Craig Weiman]()
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Scientists at APL are working on a system to monitor physical fatigue in near-real time to help prevent countless musculoskeletal injuries.
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PFAS, found in many household products, have been linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals. Scientists from APL are developing technologies to capture and destroy these “forever chemicals.”
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APL supported the Johns Hopkins COVID dashboard effort, helping it become the primary data source relied upon globally for near-real-time tracking of the pandemic.
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![Health systems]()
Featured Project
The Systems Approach to Saving Lives → Dec 14, 2017
APL’s thought leaders are stirring discussions on the importance of taking a systems approach to health care.
Cyber
We provide systems engineering, architecture, analysis, and integration to strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity and advance innovation in intelligent systems. Our work extends across the cyber domain: securing critical systems from ships to infrastructure, training artificial intelligence agents to navigate unpredictable environments, tackling noise in quantum applications, and more.
Explore Mission Areas
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Cyber Operations →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Cyber Operations Mission Area is shaping the future of warfare through cyber operations, focusing on assuring critical Department of Defense missions, delivering key solutions to enable intelligence and military operations, and developing the systems that underpin novel operational capabilities in cyberspace and across the electromagnetic spectrum.
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Research and Exploratory Development →
The Research and Exploratory Development (RED) Mission Area is Johns Hopkins APL’s research engine. We conduct pioneering research targeting game-changing breakthroughs to benefit national security missions.
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Related News
![Cybersecurity]()
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Artificial intelligence researchers at APL developed Cyclone, an AI agent, to improve teamwork and decision-making between humans and machines.
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APL is leading the development of the first-ever comprehensive, integrated, and automated solution for industrial control system cybersecurity. Known as MOSAICS, the system allows for real-time detection and characterization of cyberattacks.
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APL engineers designed the Mixed Reality Collaboration Environment framework, or REACTOR, to allow for global virtual collaboration and interaction with no externally hosted servers.
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![Cybersecurity (Credit: Bigstock)]()
Featured Project
Integrated Adaptive Cyber Defense (IACD) → Dec 14, 2017
APL conceptualized, prototyped, and published a framework enabling the integration and automation of diverse cybersecurity solutions to dramatically increase the speed and scale of cyber defense.
Air
Our expertise across numerous airborne platforms has made us a trusted resource for a variety of sponsors, programs, and missions. From breakthroughs in C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) and remote sensing to precision guidance, and from effective delivery of electromagnetic warfare packages to modeling and simulation of future platform designs, we have made some of the most critical contributions to our nation’s airborne capabilities.
Explore Mission Areas
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Air and Missile Defense →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Air and Missile Defense Mission Area creates advanced technologies and capabilities to protect U.S. and allied fleets and deployed forces from air and missile attack.
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Precision Strike →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Precision Strike Mission Area delivers critical precision strike contributions, addressing tactical aircraft, kinetic and non-kinetic weapon systems, and end-to-end capability development and demonstration.
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Strategic Deterrence →
Building on six decades of vital contributions to the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Ballistic Missile program, Johns Hopkins APL’s Strategic Deterrence Mission Area is transforming strategic systems from their legacy nuclear mission to a broad set of responses to current and future national security challenges.
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Related News
![autonomous aircraft]()
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Our researchers are developing coatings that can stand up to the rigors of hypersonic flight in the upper atmosphere, leveraging APL’s ability to produce custom materials solutions.
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APL researchers developed the meteorological unmanned air system (Met UAS) to improve data collection and understand how the Arctic's atmospheric conditions may impact equipment like radar systems.
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By the FAA’s estimate, more than two million commercial and recreational drones could share airspace by 2024. APL researchers are developing a system to preserve airspace safety and prevent collisions.
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![Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (DARC)]()
Featured Project
Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) Technology Demonstration → Dec 14, 2022
APL is leading solutions for the Space Force with the DARC technology demonstrator program.
Space
From the first photo of Earth from space to the first mission to Pluto and first planetary defense test, we have expanded the horizons of science, engineering, and discovery from the skies above our world to the farthest reaches of our solar system. Whether delivering breakthrough research or producing one-of-a-kind spacecraft, we deliver contributions to meet the challenges of space science.
Explore Mission Areas
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Civil Space →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Civil Space Mission Area makes critical contributions to NASA and international missions to meet the challenges of space science, engineering, and exploration.
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National Security Space →
Johns Hopkins APL’s National Security Space Mission Area leverages significant experience in both civil and national security space programs, as well as other technical areas across the Lab, to develop and conduct innovative missions, build space instruments, and produce applications to meet warfighter needs.
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Research and Exploratory Development →
The Research and Exploratory Development (RED) Mission Area is Johns Hopkins APL’s research engine. We conduct pioneering research targeting game-changing breakthroughs to benefit national security missions.
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Air and Missile Defense →
Johns Hopkins APL’s Air and Missile Defense Mission Area creates advanced technologies and capabilities to protect U.S. and allied fleets and deployed forces from air and missile attack.
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Related News
![Image acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope before and after DART's impact]()
Related NewsNASA’s DART Data Validates Kinetic Impact as Planetary Defense Method Mar 1, 2023
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1946
In 1946, Johns Hopkins APL took the first pictures of Earth from space. We have never looked back.
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The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by the DRACO imager on NASA’s DART mission from approximately 7 miles (12 kilometers) from the asteroid and 2 seconds before impact.
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Scheduled to launch in 2027, the Dragonfly dual-quadcopter lander will explore Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, to characterize the habitability of the ocean world’s environment.
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![DART crashing into an asteroid]()
Featured Project
Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) → Dec 13, 2022
NASA’s first planetary defense mission—the APL-led Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)—is the first mission to demonstrate what’s known as the kinetic impactor technique, which involves striking an asteroid to shift its orbit and deflect it from Earth.
Critical
Contributions
to Critical
Challenges
Our Approach
Featured
Johns Hopkins APL Rings in 80 Years
Since 1942, APL has served as an indispensable resource to the government and the nation’s defense and security. As the Lab embarks on this latest chapter, its commitment to providing previously unimaginable solutions to the nation’s most complex national security and space exploration challenges remains steadfast.
Game-Changing Impact
We solve complex research, engineering, and analytical problems that present critical challenges to our nation.
By combining creativity and technical expertise with a culture of risk-taking, we tackle increasingly difficult challenges with impacts across multiple domains.
Danielle Hilliard Aerospace Systems EngineerI’m excited each and every day to solve unique challenges and provide opportunities for others to do the same.
News and Accomplishments
Discover the latest innovations, advancements, and accomplishments from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
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![Charles Madison]()
Mar 28, 2023
Johns Hopkins APL’s Charles Madison Empowers Leaders and Staff with Focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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![Artist's impression of the Dragonfly rotorcraft-lander on the surface of Titan]()
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![Joseph Mulé (right) and Paul Mann]()
People Culture
We are dedicated to solving complex challenges and pioneering new technologies, but what makes APL truly unique is the culture surrounding the work we do.
We offer a vibrant, welcoming atmosphere where you can bring your whole self to work, continue to grow, and build lifelong bonds with inspiring teammates.
Let’s Solve the Nation’s Challenges Together
