Emergency and transport ventilation are now an established part of emergency medical practice throughout the world. Many portable ventilators exist to perform these tasks but are dependent to some extent on power or compressed gas supplies such as oxygen cylinders with a life of only about 30 minutes. While this does not pose a serious problem in urban locations, difficulties may arise in more remote locations or unusual circumstances where oxygen is limited and resupply difficult.

Designed for use in the most difficult of environments, Pneupac, in conjunction with military and emergency organisations has developed the compPAC ventilator. The compPAC is a portable, gas powered ventilator (PGPV) that provides life support to casualties in a wide range of situations where conventional resuscitation equipment is not adequate (warzones, toxic environments, mass disasters).