REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. - Although they may transfer ownership of a facility, it is guaranteed that the command will not be a stranger for long.
The High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., operated by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command as a Department of Defense Major Range Test Facility Base activity, transferred to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command on Oct. 1.
The intent of the transfer is an effort to reduce overall overhead for Army laser test facilities while continuing to support laser test customers. This transfer is expected to be transparent to test customers.
"The responsibility for managing the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility is being transferred," said Thomas E. Webber, SMDC Technical Center interim deputy director. "That includes facilities, test equipment, vehicles, equipment and support equipment. We will fund HELSTF to provide the same type of support they are providing now but we will no longer 'own' the facility.
"The advantages to SMDC is to allow us to maintain a presence for laser technology and allows us to gain efficiencies from the test organization that manages the other high-power laser operations," he added. "It allows us to consolidate our efforts under ATEC and White Sands Missile Range because they have other directed energy customers."
HELSTF became an asset of SMDC when the facility was transferred from Army Materiel Command on Oct. 1, 1990. The transfer was initiated in accordance with a Secretary of the Army (Michael P.W. Stone) memorandum which sought to consolidate high energy laser research within one organization.
There have been many key directed energy testing successes at HELSTF while the facility belonged to USASMDC/ARSTRAT.
From 1997 to 2004 HELSTF was the site of several successful high energy laser programs including the Nautilus program, the Tactical High Energy Laser program, and the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser program. From November 2002 through August 2004 THEL and MTHEL tracked and intercepted rocket, artillery and mortar projectiles in flight.
In October 2004, HELSTF was the site where the Data Collection Exercise was successfully conducted using a low powered chemical laser to acquire and track a satellite.
"We are in a period now where we are transferring from chemical lasers to solid state lasers and it is that technology that is going to ruggedize and shrink it and make it viable as a weapon system," Webber said. "We have come a long way and we still have a long way to go, but we still have a great facility to allow us to continue to grow the technology."
The Solid State Laser Testbed Experiment facility at HELSTF is not currently part of the Major Range and Test Facility Base and will remain an SMDC asset. SMDC will continue to conduct high energy laser testing at HELSTF along with other high energy laser programs including the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator.
After the ATEC transfer, the command will continue to use the HELSTF as a customer for directed energy testing.
Currently, SMDC is involved in the Solid State Laser Testbed Experiment and SMDC will maintain responsibility for operation and sustainment of the SSLTE while conducting science and technology development activities.
"The SSLTE facility is close to being completed," Webber said. "When it is ready, in either the spring or summer of 2012, we will hopefully begin laser testing.
"As everything comes together and we continue moving forward, SMDC will benefit from being familiar with the facility and they will be familiar with us as well," he added.
There are 10 employees who will make the transfer from SMDC to ATEC. The government workforce at HELSTF has been integrated into the White Sands Missile Range personnel system. They have known where they will work for more than 30 days and will transfer to WSMR payrolls on Oct. 9.
Before the official transfer, members of the command went out to personally thank the SMDC team members who have given so much to the command and to the nation.
"I visited White Sands for two reasons," said Debra Wymer, SMDC Technical Center director. "First, Dr. (Steven L.) Messervy and I wanted to thank the USASMDC/ARSTRAT employees at HELSTF who will transition to the Army Test and Evaluation Command or other organizations at White Sands Missile Range.
"Second, I wanted to see firsthand the test assets that will remain part of the Technical Center after HELSTF transitions to ATEC," she added.
Wymer took time to thank those SMDC employees who will be leaving the command and continuing their mission at White Sands Missile Range.
"I want to thank them for their service to the command and the Army while serving at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility," Wymer said. "Their dedication and sacrifice is greatly appreciated by all of us in the command and especially by me. They have contributed to a legacy of excellence in high energy laser technology and weapon system testing.
"I wish them the greatest success as they transition to the Army Test and Evaluation Command or other organizations at White Sands," she added.
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