Drawing inspiration from the U.S. Marines' 54-hour boot camp challenge, and developed in partnership with NavalX's Inland Empire Tech Bridge, the Crucible Accelerator is a startup studio that fosters grit, critical thinking, and perseverance in entrepreneurial growth across the country.
Crucible bolsters NavalX and the Tech Bridge Network's mission by uniting technology with the region's diverse innovators and promoting critical technology commercialization.
Xtractor is an innovation acceleration program within the Crucible Accelerator that helps bridge the gap between commercial and military applications of technologies to solve critical challenges faced by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Xtractor participants receive access to testing facilities, expert guidance, and structured support to adapt and mature their technology, increasing the likelihood of transition and adoption within the Department of Defense.
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Core Features
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Access to State-of-the-art Testing Venues: Xtractor participants have the opportunity to validate their technologies in cutting-edge environments that simulate real-world naval operating conditions.
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Guidance From SMEs and Industry Experts: Each team in the Xtractor program receives tailored support and feedback from subject matter experts and industry leaders who understand both the technical landscape and mission requirements.
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Solve Real-World Naval Challenges: Participants work directly on problems sourced from within the fleet, ensuring their solutions are aligned with urgent operational needs and have a clear path to meaningful impact.
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Quarterly Topic-based Cohorts: The program runs in focused, topic-driven sprints that align teams with emerging naval priorities and accelerate the pace of development and iteration.
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Advance Your Readiness Levels: Xtractor is designed to help participants push their prototypes toward deployment by integrating testing, expert feedback, and transition planning at every stage of the process.
Accelerating Innovation for the Fleet and Force
Xtractor is designed to fast-track cutting-edge technologies into the hands of Warfighters. Through structured experimentation and close collaboration with naval stakeholders, Xtractor provides a dynamic experimentation environment to validate novel technology solutions in real-world maritime scenarios, providing data and feedback that advances technology readiness.
Purpose-Built for Impact
Each Xtractor cohort is carefully selected through a competitive process, focusing on technology readiness, impact potential, and mission alignment. Once onboarded, companies participate in a three-month cycle of experimentation, feedback, and refinement. Xtractor helps teams map their capabilities to naval problem statements, execute safe and effective trials, and develop a robust catalog of outcomes to support future transition pathways.
Fueling Long-Term Success
Beyond testing, Xtractor helps cohort companies engage with DoD innovation coalitions such as the NavalX and Tech Bridge Network to accelerate scaling opportunities through exposure to key stakeholders and consideration for contract opportunities like SBIR Phase III
