Combating Terrorism Technology Support

Combating Terrorism Technology Support (CTTS) is under the Office of the Secretary of Defense and falls within the Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Defense-Wide budget activity. The program's primary objective is to address capability gaps between U.S. military forces and peer and near-peer threats. It focuses on developing and deploying integrated analytic capabilities to enhance decision-making at strategic, operational, and tactical levels. The program aims to support the National Defense Strategy by rapidly filling critical capability gaps for special operations forces, military operators, intelligence analysts, and first responders. Additionally, it seeks to identify capabilities to combat terrorism and irregular adversaries and deliver these capabilities to U.S. defense and interagency users, as well as international partners through rapid research and development.

The CTTS program encompasses various high-interest areas such as increasing lethal capability at the squad and small unit level, developing lethal drones, countering Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones), operating in deeply buried and hardened facilities, novel body and vehicle armor, detecting and mitigating CBRNE threats, telematics, covert communications, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. It collaborates with components of USSOCOM, the Services, and many Defense Agencies to expedite the transition of new and innovative capabilities. The program's activities include rapid technology development, safety testing, proof-of-concept demonstrations in the field, operational evaluations of prototypes, and coordinating the transition from development to production and operational use. The CTTS program also manages approximately 220 individual projects and international task plans while reviewing proposals for future requirements.

Overall, the program aims to demonstrate the utility of technology in combating peer or near-peer forces, emerging threats, and terrorism requirements. It has resumed in-person collaboration post-COVID-19 but faces challenges such as extended contracts with vendors due to supply chain impacts and reduced projects due to increased costs associated with incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning.