CAMP ASAYLIYAH, Qatar -- The Patriot Missile System Integration and Checkout, a two-stage process designed to validate system operability and software and communication data verification, is a critical annual requirement associated with the Army Prepositioned Stock-5 Phased Array Tracking Radar Intercept On Target systems.
Through coordination between Army Field Support Battalion-Qatar, 402nd Army Field Support Brigade, Patriot systems repairer, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Collier, and 3rd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery personnel located on Al Udied Air Base, the Systems Integration and Checkout took place on Camp As Sayliyah, in early 2014.
"The coordination was seamless," Collier said. "I contacted the 3-43 ADA Battalion maintenance officer, who put me in touch with the operations section. Once operations were involved, the OPORD (operations order) was created for their personnel and equipment support and it was done."
Stage One began with the de-processing and placement of the equipment where operators from 3-43 ADA assumed responsibility of performing power-off technical inspections and initialization procedures. Once the systems were deemed operational, Stage Two kicked off with a series of baseline tests used to verify fiber optic and UHF radio communication between APS-5 launching stations and the 3-43 ADA Engagement Control Station.
By routing fiber optic cables through a communication relay group for connection with the Engagement Control Station located on AUAB and establishing radio telephone communication, the ECS operators were able to gain remote access to the APS-5 launchers, successfully completing the integration of the two systems.
During a period of six hours, operators from AUAB were able to remotely access and control all APS-5 Patriot launching stations and run them through a series of systems checks and commands, successfully validating all of the launching stations.
"The launching stations were moved to a remote site on the base. The moment the systems arrived on site, the operators from 3-43 ADA emplaced the launchers and commenced to connect the M901s into the relay station with both fiber optic and radio and telephone communications," said Mike Waugh, an Exelis APS-5 Patriot systems repairer who was a part of the process. "Once connected to the system, the launching stations were commanded to perform multiple operations remotely to ensure full functionality. The testing went well and ensured that all of our launchers were ready for the mission."
The SICO was planned and executed during a 30 day period. This allowed APS-5 to satisfy both the quarterly equipment exercise and annual system validation requirements simultaneously. It also provided APS-5 maintainers an opportunity to enhance their systems knowledge and refresh their troubleshooting capabilities as both parties worked together to correct minor deficiencies.
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