Foreign Materiel Exploitation

Foreign materiel exploitation (FME) is the Department of Defense term for the acquisition, disassembly, testing and analysis of foreign hardware. The Department of Defense Inspector General defined it in 1997 as follows: "Foreign materiel exploitation involves analysis, testing, and evaluation of foreign materiel, to include testing against U.S. equipment. Foreign materiel exploitation supports DoD acquisition programs, testing, threat simulator and target development, modeling and simulation, and training and tactics."¹ The 2025 Defense Intelligence Agency request for proposals for the Contract Operations for Missile Evaluation and Testing (COMET) contract states it more briefly: "Foreign Materiel Exploitation (FME) involves the reverse-engineering of foreign weapon systems to analyze and understand their capabilities and vulnerabilities."²

Definitions in Department of Defense documents

DoD Inspector General Audit Report No. 98-005, "Use of Foreign Materiel Exploitation Results," dated October 8, 1997, reviewed how the Military Departments used exploitation results to modify simulators, develop targets and train. It states that "For FY 1996, the Military Departments estimated that they spent about $117 million on foreign materiel exploitation projects." The report names four scientific and technical intelligence centers as the disseminators of results: the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (which "coordinated and disseminated exploitation results efficiently and effectively by conducting symposiums, issuing electronic messages, issuing interim reports after each exploitation phase, and issuing final reports"), the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center, the Office of Naval Intelligence, and the Air Force's National Air Intelligence Center (see Foreign Technology Division, the page for the Wright-Patterson unit that became NASIC). It adds that "the Air Force Test and Evaluation Directorate, Foreign Materiel Office, had an ongoing initiative to involve contractors early in the exploitation process," which "pertained only to electronic warfare systems," and that "the Air Force had plans to expand the program to other systems."¹

The Department of Defense Inspector General and the Defense Intelligence Agency Office of the Inspector General announced that they planned to begin a joint evaluation in September 2023 (Project No. D2023-DEV0SI-0154.000) with the stated objective "to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the DoD Foreign Materiel Program's policy and resources for integrating Service and Combat Support Agency acquisition and exploitation of foreign materiel."³

The Missile and Space Intelligence Center's own requirements documents define the work in task terms. A performance work statement for Defensive Systems Analysis (solicitation HHM402_DSA, sources sought April 24, 2024) lists task 3.2, "Foreign Materiel Exploitation (FME)," with subtasks 3.2.1 Hardware Examination and Characterization, 3.2.2 System and Subsystem Test and Evaluation, 3.2.3 Foreign Materiel Documentation Analysis and 3.2.4 System Operational Testing, and reads: "The contractor shall exploit, and characterize foreign materiel associated with defensive weapon systems. The contractor shall disassemble and photograph such materiel and shall provide associated mensuration data, engineering drawings." Elsewhere the same document states: "The contractor shall extract firmware and data from digital electronic devices contained in key hardware subsystems, document findings and reverse engineer firmware."⁴ The Offensive Missile System Analysis Support requirement (MSIC-OMS-2021, presolicitation March 4, 2021, performance work statement dated August 8, 2019) adds: "Efforts to test, analyze, evaluate, document, and reproduce missile system hardware obtained by the U.S. shall also be required."⁵

The COMET request for proposals (HHM40225R0025, final solicitation notice HHM40226COMET, 355 pages) describes the exploitation laboratories as "equipped with advanced capabilities in several critical areas, including software reverse-engineering (SWRE), radiofrequency (RF) and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) analysis, materials science, adversarial-AI, computed tomography (CT) imaging, and microelectronics." It describes "explosive ordnance exploitation (EOE)" as "a vital initial step that ensures the safe disassembly of foreign materiel through the expertise of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel," and lists "transportation, storage, lifecycle management, and program management" as key operational support, and states that "maintenance is critical, encompassing both the upkeep of domestic transportation vehicles and the foreign systems being exploited." Its evaluation factors ask offerors to describe expertise in "large foreign vehicle maintenance, over-road transportation of oversized and hazardous cargo," "handling, storage, and disposal of explosives, caustic materials, and other hazards inherent in weapon systems," and "software reverse engineering, RF analysis, EO/IR analysis, materials science, inertial measurement unit testing, 3D X-Ray computed tomography imaging, microelectronics, and Field Programable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)."²

The Joint Foreign Material Program Office and JCMEC

A synopsis posted on SAM.gov on December 28, 2020, titled "FME Laboratory Operations," states that the Missile and Space Intelligence Center "requires contractor support to accomplish diverse scientific and technical intelligence missions associated with the Missile and Space Intelligence Center, Program Management Division (MSIC4) and the Joint Foreign Material Program Office (JFMPO). This scope addresses laboratory operation, laboratory support requirements, cross-functional logistic support requirements, and Joint Captured Material Exploitation Center (JCMEC) support for the JFMPO." The planned vehicle was a "Single award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract" with "a five (5) year base ordering period with a five year (5) option ordering period," task orders of up to a one-year base and four option years, place of performance Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, response due January 11, 2021, NAICS 541715.⁶

Air Force exploitation at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center

The Air Force's exploitation line runs through the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. An Air Force story of December 1, 2016 by Technical Sergeant Brandon Shapiro reads: "NASIC hands off the 'FM' (foreign materiel) to their 87-member Foreign Materiel Exploitation Squadron. This group of experts includes engineers and scientists, contractors and Airmen, from more than 10 areas of expertise," and describes the mission's goal as "to assure that United States forces avoid technological surprise and can counter existing and evolving foreign air and space threats."⁷ The records of its contracting are collected on the page for the Foreign Technology Division; the vehicles that carry the vocabulary of exploitation are:

• The Advanced Technical Exploitation Program (2009, ATEP I) and Advanced Technical Exploitation Program II (October 3, 2014, contracts FA860415D7975, D7976 and D7977; ceilings $1,240,000,000, $1,240,000,000 and $2,200,000,000; 505 task orders, $1,008,236,001 obligated).⁸
• NOVASTAR (August 19, 2022, five contracts FA860422DB005 through DB009, each displaying a $4,797,000,000 ceiling; 118 listed orders, $529,681,827 obligated as of October 4, 2026), including subaward text for "S&TI OF FOREIGN STRIKE WEAPONS" covering "CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS ANALYSIS."⁸
• General Services Administration purchase order GS05T13BMC0003 to HII Mission Technologies, "IGF::CL::IGF FOREIGN MATERIEL EXPLOITATION ENGINEERING AND MAINTENANCE SUPPORT," funded by "F4FTAU NASIC GX," February 1, 2013 to July 31, 2018, $53,916,532.23 obligated of $61,599,045.26 with options, one offer, with 373 subaward rows reporting $73,640,597.06, most for laboratory instruments and software.⁹

Other service and agency facilities

Navy records name a laboratory at Suitland, Maryland. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Washington awarded RLF & CN JV an order of September 27, 2024 ($2,712,788) described "P664 FOREIGN MATERIEL EXPLOITATION (FME) LAB PLANNING, ENGINEERIN" and one of August 20, 2025 ($1,608,754), "P664 FME LAB DB RFP, NMIC SUITLAND MD," both coded "FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION."¹⁰ The Army's National Ground Intelligence Center funded Georgia Tech Applied Research Corp. orders titled "IGF::OT::IGF FME LABOR" under contract W911W516D0001, among them order W911W518F0060 of August 31, 2018 ($2,200,000), coded "NOT COMPETED."¹¹

The Materiel Exploitation Center

On August 25, 2026 the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile and Space Intelligence Center held a ribbon-cutting for its Materiel Exploitation Center (MEC) on the MSIC campus at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama. Intelligence Community News reported that the ceremony marked "the completion of the Phase I MEC project, which is part of the two-phased Advanced Analysis Complex construction effort," at MSIC's "Richard C. Shelby Center for Missile Intelligence," and that it provides "hardware exploitation, laboratory space, a vehicle maintenance facility, HUB for enterprise logistics management and a central energy plant." Attendees included DIA Deputy Director Sharon Rose, MSIC Chief Steven Rush, Representative Dale Strong, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle and Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas.¹² 256 Today described the building as "nearly 92,000-square-foot," said "Congress allocated more than $150 million for the first phase, which includes nine high bays for the exploitation of large foreign weapons systems, specialized scientific laboratories, secure intelligence spaces, logistics capabilities, vehicle maintenance and supporting infrastructure," and quoted Rose: "A lot of what we'll do behind these walls is highly sensitive and we can't get into the details." Rush was quoted: "We're responsible for over 700 weapons systems to analyze, exploit and inform the intelligence community and acquisition community for impact to the warfighter," and "This facility is already in the fight supporting operations in Iran, operations to counter Russia and Ukraine and elsewhere in the world, and operations to counter China."¹³

MSIC's December 2025 overview briefing to a Huntsville audience listed the Material Exploitation Center (102,000 square feet) and a Modeling Analysis and Computing Exploitation facility (154,000 square feet) among its military construction projects and described the COMET contract as a "New Acquisition Strategy" with a "$14B ceiling."¹⁴

Contractors

The contractors named in federal records and announcements as performing exploitation, S&TI or FME-adjacent work at the Air Force and DIA centers are listed below with the source of each role. Order counts and obligation totals are the sums of the orders listed in USAspending on October 4, 2026.

• Radiance Technologies: Advanced Technical Exploitation Program II prime (FA860415D7976, 136 listed orders, $276,367,360); NOVASTAR prime (FA860422DB008, 38 listed orders, $157,754,299); "TECHNICAL SERVICES" subawardee on the HII FME purchase order (eleven rows, September 14, 2017); teammate of Peraton on the "SIA 3 Countering Advanced Conventional Weapons Analytical Requirements" (SCAR) task order for MSIC (announced June 2, 2023, $284 million, "analysis of foreign weapon systems across all MSIC's missions and disciplines, including air and missile defense systems, ballistic missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, and directed energy weapons"); subawardee to Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3) on Naval Research Laboratory order N0017317F2055 (described "RDT&E SUPPORT FOR TACTICAL ELECTRONIC WARFARE SIMULATION NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY"), where the subaward text reads "RADIANCE PROVIDES REVERSE ENGINEERING OF EXPLOITED HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE IN SUPPORT OF SIMULATION DEVELOPMENT AND CLOSED LOOP HWIL TESTS IN THE CENTRAL TARGET SIMULATION (CTS). THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDES REVERSE ENGINEERING FIRMWARE AND EMBEDDED SOFTWARE AND THE COMPUTERS ON WHICH THEY OPERATE. IN ADDITION, RADIANCE REVERSE ENGINEERS ELECTRONICS AT THE CIRCUIT BOARD LEVEL TO DETERMINE THE FUNCTION WITHIN THE OVERALL MISSILE SYSTEM"; announced a COMET position on September 9, 2026.⁸⁹¹⁵¹⁶
• Modern Technology Solutions (MTSI): NOVASTAR prime (FA860422DB007, 21 listed orders, $98,035,229), with subawardees including Leidos ($29,404,516), Ball Aerospace and Technologies, Sequoia Research Corporation, Decibel Research, Inc., Awetomaton Ltd and Kratos SRE, Inc.; subawardee on the HII FME purchase order (seven rows, February 15, 2018).⁸⁹
• KBR Wyle Services: Advanced Technical Exploitation Program II prime (FA860415D7975, 149 listed orders, $285,894,298), whose largest reported subawardees are Brilligent Solutions, LLC ($63.6 million) and Decibel Research, Inc. ($26.7 million).⁸
• Altamira Technologies: ATEP II prime (FA860415D7977, with Invertix Corporation receiving the first 65 orders; $445,974,343 across 220 listed orders) and NOVASTAR prime (FA860422DB005, 28 listed orders, $159,269,313).⁸
• HII Mission Technologies: prime of the GSA Foreign Materiel Exploitation Engineering and Maintenance Support order; subawardee under ATEP II orders to Altamira ($1,554,927) and Invertix ($729,303).⁸⁹
• Dynetics: Defense Intelligence Agency Missile and Space Intelligence Center contract HHM402-19-D-0023, a five-year base with five-year option indefinite-delivery contract with a ceiling of $737,992,267, expected completion October 31, 2029, "full and open solicitation, and one offer."¹⁷
• Parsons: Parsons Government Services Inc. contract HHM402-18-D-0004, ceiling $164,693,682, "to provide support services for the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC)."¹⁸
• COLSA Corporation: Scientific Computing Operations, Analysis, and Applications contract HHM402-21-D-0151, whose justification dated August 31, 2023 requested an $85,000,000 increase and states a total contract ceiling value of $217,439,429.92 (base plus option periods), after "a large influx of Congressionally Directed funding (approximately $45,000,000 in FY23)."¹⁹
• Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3): prime of Naval Research Laboratory order N0017317F2055 described above; announced a small business position on COMET in September 2026.¹⁵²⁰
• Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation: announced on September 17, 2026 "a prime position" on COMET, "an estimated ceiling of more than $14 billion."²¹