SOURCE ONE TACTICAL, INC.
JUPITER, FLORIDA

Neal Nguyen, the product manager for Soldier clothing and individual equipment under Program Executive Office Soldier, known as PEO Soldier, answered the request in 2010 with the help of the Defense Acquisition Challenge, or DAC, program. He was named the DAC Program Manager of the Year for 2012 for his work on the ghillie suit as well as a uniform repair patch kit and enhanced combat vehicle crewman coverall. “It’s a privilege to serve the Army and provide much-needed protective equipment to the warfighter,” Nguyen said. “The flame-resistant ghillie suit accessory kit and flame-resistant base uniform will improve the safety of those forward operators and keep the Army on the leading edge of capability and lethality. “Over a 20-year period, the branch that I work in has completed multiple successful FCT programs based on the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle weapon system,” West said. “The FCT office, along with my branch chief’s knowledge of the SOCOM FCT program office, gave me support and guidance when taking on this task. I am grateful for the opportunity to provide this capability to the Warfighter.” With a focus on small business, the DAC program has been a vehicle for small domestic vendors to transition their products to the acquisition cycle. It was funded through fiscal year 2012. In response to requests for snipers’ ghillie suits, Source One, a small business in Florida, submitted a response. PEO Soldier sponsored the proposal. More than 70 percent of the awarded projects have been to American small- and medium-sized businesses, and more than 25 percent to non-traditional defense companies. Twenty-three projects have been deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. FCT’s mission is to find and evaluate “here and now” solutions to meet the operational needs of American service members so that Soldiers have the technology they need to remain dominant on the battlefield and return home safely, regardless of the origin of that technology, Everett said. OSD has leveraged new and evolving technology through FCT since 1980. The program encourages international cooperation and helps reduce overall DOD acquisition costs by funding the testing of foreign non-developmental items, commercial-off-the-shelf items, or those items in a late state of the development process that demonstrate the potential to satisfy the U.S. military’s needs. For West’s FCT project, he said the enhanced fuze warhead provides a capability to dial in a delay for a rocket warhead, allowing users to select where to detonate the round. Pilots had this capability 20 years ago, but it suffered from poor reliability and safety risks.