The military's chronic shortage of blood has deadly consequences. Hemorrhage accounts for about 90% of preventable battlefield deaths, and a 2025 study found that only 1% of US trauma patients who potentially needed blood before reaching a hospital actually received it. The urgency was underscored in 2007, when a casualty evacuation helicopter called Morphine 1-2 was shot down during a daylight mission to fetch blood, killing all seven crew members.
DARPA is now launching a $73 million program called RAPIID to develop shelf-stable versions of the three major transfusion components: plasma, platelets, and red blood cells. The goal is to have dried blood products deployed in the field by 2029, building on an earlier $47.5 million DARPA project that showed promising results in animals. The program aims to solve the storage problem that limits whole blood to 35 days and platelets to a week or less.
Freeze-dried plasma is the closest to reality—it has been possible since the 1930s, though abandoned for decades over hepatitis risks. Improved screening and drying techniques have led the FDA to allow two types of freeze-dried plasma for military emergency use. Platelets and red blood cells are tougher: freeze-dried platelets from Cellphire have shown promise in trials but depend on donors, and preserving hemoglobin remains a major challenge.