PWND2 Program: when "strangeness" is an advantage
The US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a large-scale collaboration with leading American technology companies under the PWND2 program (Provable Weird and Novel Deployments 2 — "Deployment and Detection of Provably Strange Networks, Phase 2"). The goal is to develop fundamentally new communication systems, whose signals will be so "strange" and atypical that modern electronic intelligence systems simply will not be able to recognize or classify them.
This approach turns the unusual into a defense.
How provably strange networks work
Traditional methods of communication masking — encryption, frequency hopping — are increasingly amenable to analysis using AI and big data. PWND2 offers a different way: creating networks whose signatures (radio prints) deliberately differ from any known patterns, whether it's Wi—Fi, cellular networks, or military channels.
These "provably strange" signals are not just encrypted — they look like noise or an anomaly to an outside observer, which makes them virtually invisible to detection and analysis systems. Even with interception, it is impossible to decode them without knowing the unique "strategic key" of network behavior.
Key participants and contracts worth $ 29.2 million
In July and August 2025, DARPA signed contracts with five American companies.:
- Stealth Software Technologies (Arizona) and SRI International (California) are the original developers of the concept, specializing in cryptography and AI. The contracts are worth a total of $7.4 million.
- Two Six Labs (Virginia), RTX BBN Technologies and Systems & Technology Research (both in Massachusetts) joined later with contracts worth $21.8 million.
Each company develops its own approaches to the implementation of "strangeness" — from dynamic protocols to adaptive AI-controlled waveforms.
Countering modern surveillance systems
In an environment where the enemy has powerful radio monitoring and machine learning tools capable of detecting hidden signals, traditional encryption methods are no longer sufficient. PWND2 offers a radical solution — not to hide the signal, but to make it so alien that it ceases to be an object of interest.
If the program is successful, such networks can be used to connect intelligence groups, drones, and command centers in high-risk interception environments.
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