Central Test and Evaluation Investment Development (CTEIP)

Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) [DoD]

The Central Test and Evaluation Investment Program (CTEIP) is a Department of Defense initiative that aims to develop critically needed, high-priority Test and Evaluation (T&E) capabilities for joint/multi-Service requirements. The program focuses on addressing strategic requirements related to Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Cyber, Electronic Warfare, Nuclear Effects, Space, Autonomy, and Multi-Domain Operations. CTEIP uses a corporate investment approach to combine T&E needs from Service, Defense, and other Government agencies in order to maximize opportunities for joint efforts and avoid unwarranted duplication of test capabilities. The program evaluates and selects proposals that align with National Defense Strategy (NDS) priorities, provide the greatest return on investment, make efficient use of limited test resources, leverage Service investment, and promote joint solutions to fill test capability gaps.

The FY 2023 increase of $448.177 million for CTEIP includes realignment for other Departmental and administrative priorities and a Congressional add that provides enhanced capabilities and increased throughput to meet increasing test demand. This funding supports various projects such as developing autonomous systems test capability for testing DoD autonomous ground vehicle systems and an open-air range environment capability to test full-scale autonomous vehicles. Additionally, it includes efforts to develop counter UAS lethality diagnostics, advanced optical range tracking systems, short-wave infrared zoom lens for tracking aerial directed energy targets at night and in obscuration, vehicle real-time test instrumentation for increased storage capacity, hybrid tracking system for providing time-space position information in GPS denied environments, among others. These investments are crucial to ensure that test capabilities keep pace with U.S. and adversary technical advances as well as quickly changing threats.

In summary, the CTEIP program aims to enhance the Department's T&E capabilities by investing in critical areas such as hypersonics testing facilities, multi-sonic wind tunnels, modeling and simulation of hypersonic test facilities, hypersonic ground testing capability, high-speed test tracks for hypersonics scramjet wind tunnels and aeroshell test facilities. These investments align with USD(R&E) priorities and the Strategic Plan for DoD T&E Resources while increasing efficiency and reducing the cost of testing on major ranges and test facilities.