The Department of Defense announces the selection of new projects being funded in Fiscal 2007 under the Comparative Testing Office's (CTO) Defense Acquisition Challenge (DAC) and Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) programs.

The services and the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) nominated more than 85 projects for CTO funding consideration. Each proposed project was carefully reviewed by the services, USSOCOM, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to ensure that the mature equipment or technology addressed valid warfighter needs. Each project's service sponsor also had to have a viable acquisition strategy to procure and field the equipment should it test successfully and offer the best value.

The DAC and FCT programs support the warfighter by leveraging mature equipment and technologies from domestic and coalition industry to satisfy U.S. defense requirements. Performance measures include accelerating the acquisition process, reducing development costs, and providing opportunities for the introduction of innovative and cost-saving technologies into existing defense acquisition programs.

By staying focused on the capabilities required for the global war on terrorism, DAC and FCT enhance interoperability with our coalition partners, strengthen defense relationships, and frequently serve as a catalyst for partnering between domestic and overseas defense industries.

The DAC program allows domestic industries, especially those that are not major defense contractors, to compete with current acquisition programs at the component, system or sub-system level. The FCT program demonstrates the U.S. commitment to the "two-way street" in defense procurement and the willingness of our allies and coalition partners to share their technology and compete in the U.S. defense market.

Of the 37 new FCT and DAC projects for fiscal 2007, nine are sponsored by the Army, 11 by the Navy and Marine Corps, eight by the Air Force, and nine by the USSOCOM. Additional information on the DAC and FCT programs is available on the CTO Web site at: http://www.acq.osd.mil/cto/ .



Army
FCT:
- Lithium-Ion Polymer Batteries - Republic of Korea
- Real-Time Geospatial Information Sharing - Canada
- Secure High-Capacity Tactical Radio System - Sweden
- Type II Superlattice Focal Plane Arrays and Cameras - Germany

DAC:
- 10kW Tactical Vehicle Inverter System
- Fiber Optic Gyro Rate Sensors for Combat Vehicles
- Improved Performance Environmental Control System
- Land Warrior Cable Connector System
- Portable Oxygen Concentrator for Patient Transport and Treatment


Navy and Marine Corps
FCT:
- Deployable Instrumented Training System for Urban Warfare - Sweden
- Enhanced Underwater Breathing Apparatus - Canada, Italy, United Kingdom
- Mobile Oxygen Ventilation and External Breathing Apparatus - Canada
- Steel Strip Laminate Rocket Motor Case for 5-Inch Zuni Rocket - United Kingdom
- Tactical Paging Buoy for Submarine Communications at Speed and Depth - Canada, United Kingdom
- Waterjet Engine Qualification for Naval Combatants - Netherlands, Sweden

DAC:
- AN/BSN -2 Digital Depth Detector
- Combat Rubber Raiding Craft Product Improvement
- Improved Loader's Weapon Station for M1A1 Main Battle Tank
- Non-Gasoline Burning Outboard Engine
- Portable Receive Communications Suite

Air Force
FCT:
- Ceramic-Aluminum Engine Coating - Germany
- Helmet-Mounted Cueing System for A 10 "Warthog" - Israel
- Spatial Disorientation Trainer - Austria
- X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite Data - Germany

DAC:
- Angel Fire - Situational Awareness of Large-Area Urban Operations
- C2 Resource Management: Master Control Panel
- Cost-Effective Light Aircraft Missile Protection
- Low Plasticity Burnishings to F-100 Engine

US Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
FCT :
- Anti-Material Rifle - Croatia, Republic of South Africa
- Hostile Forces Tagging, Tracking and Locating - Canada, France, Italy, United Kingdom
- Lightweight Deployable Universal Communications Systems - Sweden
- MK47 Crew-Served Weapon Trainer - Norway
- PSYOP Radio Broadcast Platform - Norway

DAC:
- Crew-Served and Heavy Weapon Aiming Laser
- Improved Radio Frequency (RF) Micro-Chip Assemblies
- Lithium-Ion Battery System for SEAL Delivery Vehicle
- Modular Composite Armor Kits

A brief description of each project is available from the Public Affairs Office
(media only), (703) 695-0192; Public Communications (non-media only), (703) 428-0711.