Program

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Encouraging coral growth

DARPA helped launch the Kalaeloa Hybrid Reef Project to help protect Hawai‘i’s vulnerable coastal highways from erosion and rising seas.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation launched the Kalaeloa Hybrid Reef Project in September 2026 as the first large-scale ocean demonstration of DARPA's Reefense program. Source: Hawaii Department of Transportation
The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation launched the Kalaeloa Hybrid Reef Project in September 2026 as the first large-scale ocean demonstration of DARPA's Reefense program. Source: Hawaii Department of Transportation
The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation launched the Kalaeloa Hybrid Reef Project in September 2026 as the first large-scale ocean demonstration of DARPA's Reefense program. Source: Hawaii Department of Transportation
The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation launched the Kalaeloa Hybrid Reef Project in September 2026 as the first large-scale ocean demonstration of DARPA's Reefense program. Source: Hawaii Department of Transportation
DARPA Reefense program
Hawaii Department of Transportation, DARPA, and the University of Hawaiʻi, alongside academic, community and industry partners launched the Kalaeloa Hybrid Reef Project to help protect Hawai‘i’s vulnerable coastal highways from erosion and rising seas. Source: Hawaii Department of Transportation

Reefense

This program seeks to develop self-healing, hybrid biological and engineered reef-mimicking structures to mitigate the coastal flooding, erosion and storm damage that increasingly threaten civilian and DOW infrastructure and personnel.

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