The US Department of Defense is to spearhead the US national effort to get back into the television race for the high definition TV generation of sets by offering funding for research projects to develop a compact screen that could display text, video and graphics with great clarity – for a wide range of military uses as well as for computer and consumer applications. The aim of the proposed programme is to foster development of products that will have commercial applicability so as to bring down the cost in military applications such as simulators and combat helicopters. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency confirmed to the Washington Post that it would fund such a development but declined to give details ahead of the announcement. The initial funding is likely to run into tens of millions of dollars, and is expected to be distributed among several competing individual companies or consortia.
