Department of Defense

The Department of Defense or DoD was a pre-War department of the United States government.

Background
In 2069, West Tek was the single largest contractor for the United States government, its largest contract being Powered Infantry Armor Model T-51b. In light of significant advances in 2076 by the West Tek Nuclear Biological Chemical Division on the Pan-Immunity Virion Project, the United States Defense Department, in fear of international espionage, moved a team onto the site to secure and oversee the project, now dubbed the Forced Evolutionary Virus project.

Sometime after the development of the T-51 power armor, the Joint Chiefs would commission the development of X-01 power armor, with functional prototypes existing before the Great War. While X-01 never saw wide scale deployment, its prototype schematics would serve as the base for the Enclave to develop Advanced power armor into mass production in 2220.

The St. Aubin medical facility would also be on the Department of Defense's network for it classified research into adapting Robobrain brain extraction and techniques, as well as manipulating the composition of bio med gel to achieve powerful effects from simply a mind suspended in a jar.

The department worked in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture in the National Water Enhancement Initiative, developing additives to be deployed in the water systems to improve the well-being of United States citizens.

The United States Army contracted REPCONN Aerospace to produce a new line of plasma rifles, to replace the aging P94 plasma caster. As part of the Quantum Plasma Modulation Matter Injection Rifle project, they worked through numerous failures and 34 redesigns before successfully developing a working prototype with some stolen information from a canceled Poseidon Energy project. Individuals suspected to be working for Poseidon Energy conspired with REPCONN's CFO, Julia Masters, to intercept and secure the prototype before it could be delivered to the Department of Defense.

They were also involved in the development of the Appalachian Automated Launch System, a system of automated nuclear missile silos in Appalachia, and an early warning system for inbound nuclear strikes. The warning system gave precedence to military contacts, leaving civilians with little time to prepare. This deeply upset Senator Sam Blackwell of the Appalachian Territory. A concerned member of the department had to send a threatening letter to the senator for fear that he would go public with the information, which would cause widespread panic.

After his company, Hornwright Industrial, developed the Auto-Miner, Daniel Hornwright hoped to continue automating other aspects of the mining industry. He initiated a series of pilot projects and came across a promising candidate presented to him by a contact within the Defense Department. A project of theirs, the Vertibird, he believed he could automate and attach mineral detectors, creating a reconnaissance drone able to automatically evaluate mining sites twenty times their current speed.

Appearances
The Department of Defense is mentioned in Fallout, Fallout 3, its add-ons Operation: Anchorage and Point Lookout, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, its add-on Automatron, and Fallout 76.

Behind the scenes
The Department would have been mentioned in Black Isle Studios' canceled Fallout 3 project.