It strikes me that US DARPA has a weird position where the more military advantage can come from concentrated high investments then the US+allies/beneficiaries win. (Ie fewer expensive toys should win against many cheap toys)

If Mil technology is too cheap then US advantage is much lower.

So part of that is just keeping SOTA moving quickly. But also centrally-deployed tech having outsized longevity (things like satellite deployment or AI or the anti-missile battery-type stuff).

For this launching from a larger vessel maybe.