For Canadian exporters with innovative, market-ready technologies, the U.S. Department of War’s (U.S. DoW) Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program offers a fast, low-barrier pathway for innovators to demonstrate their technology’s value and potentially break into one of the world’s largest defence markets. One of the biggest advantages for Canadian companies is the program’s focus on speed, cost savings, and modernization.
What is FCT?
Areas of focus evolving
- These categories now guide U.S. DoW research and development efforts and are expected to influence acquisition and testing programs across the department.
- The FCT’s mission—to rapidly test mature foreign technologies that meet U.S. capability needs—means its future priorities are likely to align increasingly with these six focus areas.
Types of technologies tested in the past
- Resilient communications – Secure, survivable communication networks operating across air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace that can withstand, adapt to, and rapidly recover from attacks, jamming, cyber disruptions, or physical damage while maintaining mission-critical connectivity.
- Autonomy and multi-domain systems – Autonomous systems are platforms or capabilities that can perform tasks and make decisions with limited or no human intervention using programmed logic and real-time data. Multi-domain systems operate and integrate effects across land, air, maritime, space, and cyberspace to support coordinated military operations.
- Cyber and information operations – Capabilities that defend U.S. DoW networks and data, conduct offensive cyber operations, and execute information-related activities to influence, disrupt, or protect decision-making in and through cyberspace and the information environment.
- Logistics – The planning and execution of the movement, supply, sustainment, and maintenance of forces, ensuring personnel have the right equipment, fuel, ammunition, food, medical support, and resources at the right place and time.
- Sensors and data analysis – Technologies that detect, collect, and measure information (such as movement, heat, signals, or other environmental data) and process that information into actionable intelligence to support surveillance, reconnaissance, targeting, and threat assessment.
- Combat support and enablers – Essential services and capabilities, including engineering, communications, medical support, intelligence, mobility, and sustainment, that enable combat forces to operate effectively and accomplish their missions.
- Kinetic and non-kinetic fires – The use of weapon systems to create desired lethal or non-lethal effects on a target. Kinetic fires involve physical projectiles or explosives (e.g., missiles, artillery, bombs), while non-kinetic fires include cyber operations, electronic warfare, jamming, and directed energy systems that achieve effects without physical destruction.
- Kill web interoperability – The seamless networking of platforms, sensors, command-and-control systems, and weapons across domains to share data and coordinate effects rapidly, enabling flexible and integrated targeting and engagement.
- Positioning, navigation, and timing (APNT/C-PNT) – Systems that provide accurate location, movement, and precise timing information. Assured PNT (APNT) ensures reliability in contested environments, while Complementary PNT (C-PNT) provides alternative or backup sources when primary systems such as GPS are degraded or denied.
FCT application process
Thinking about applying to the Foreign Comparative Testing program? Here’s what Canadian companies can expect:
Direct Submission to the U.S. FCT Program
FCT Selection process
U.S. DoW reviews and selects promising projects — Once your information is submitted, FCT experts share it across the U.S. defense ecosystem — program offices, labs, warfare centers, and technology integrators.
From there, proposals move up to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) for final review. During selection, they look at things like:
- Whether the technology supports a real military need
- Endorsement from a U.S. DoW sponsor
- Risks around cost, schedule, and performance
- How it fits into acquisition plans
- Alignment with emerging warfighting concepts
- Pathways to transition into a formal program
Think of this stage as determining whether your tech is a strong match for current and future U.S. capability needs.
Possible outcomes of selection
Comparative Testing – If your technology is selected, the U.S. DoW may buy a small number of units for hands-on testing. These tests are designed to compare your solution directly against U.S. requirements and identify whether it solves specific operational gaps or improves performance.
Fast-Track to Acquisition – If your technology performs well during the evaluation, it can rapidly move toward procurement. In many cases, successful projects transition into military acquisition programs within five years, giving Canadian companies a clearer and faster path to entering the U.S. defense market.