U.S. Army's xTechSearch 3.0 kicks off in search of next-gen tech
NewsMay 03, 2019
WASHINGTON. U.S. Army officials launched the third expeditionary technology search competition (xTechSearch 3.0), with the goal to engage with non-defense traditional small business sector.
xTechSearch 3.0 seeks novel, disruptive concepts and technologies to advance capabilities across multiple technology areas to include Long-Range Precision Fires, Next Generation Combat Vehicle, Future Vertical Lift, The Army Network, Air and Missile Defense, Increasing Soldier Lethality, Medical Technologies and Military Engineering Technologies.
xTechSearch 3.0 continues its highly successful trajectory after the program initially launched in 2017 where several hundred companies participated in the competition from across the United States. This competition continues the initiative to attract game-changing innovation to the Army by leveraging a competition where companies pitch novel technology solutions directly to Army leadership.
The grand prize winners of the first competition, Adranos, Inc., a Purdue University-affiliated company out of West Lafayette, Indiana, took the top prize for their high-performance, clean solid propellant for long-range missile and space launch systems at the Association of the United States Army Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, in March 2019.
"The Army's xTechSearch competition set forth relatively broad goals and allowed companies to propose solutions to accomplish those goals," says Chris Stoker, CEO and co-founder of Adranos, Inc., with Dr. Brandon Terry, chief technology officer. "This approach was ideal for us, because funding opportunities that fit our specific solution were difficult to find. In addition, we were astonished at how quickly the Army progressed through all four phases of the competition. It enabled us to accelerate the development of our products so that we can implement them sooner than we would have been able to otherwise."
The competition will host outreach events across the country leveraging the Army's Open Campus network to engage with American innovators and spur the development of leap-ahead technologies for the Army of the Future. Companies will be provided cash prizes by the Army to demonstrate proof of concept for their technology in an Army-relevant challenge area.
For more information, visit: https://challenge.gov/a/buzz/challenge/1029/ideas/top
Deadline for proposal submissions is June 12, 2019.
