A program being developed under the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) — the research and development leg of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which oversees the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) — is seeking to create active smart textiles (ASTs) featuring sensors, cameras and wires woven into the garments.

The U.S. government program, dubbed SMART ePANTS, envisions clothing such as shirts, pants and underwear, for instance, that records audio and video of the wearer’s surroundings, and that tracks their location via a geolocation sensor.

With the potential to be the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems of the future, the ASTs are expected to be washable, stretchable, bendable and comfortable.

Organizations already awarded the SMART ePANTS research contract include Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), SRI International, Nautilus Defense, Leidos, Inc. and Areté.