The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command Targets Team successfully launched a risk reduction flight of a Lance missile at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., March 10 to improve low-cost Lance missile targets. The te...
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command successfully launched a risk reduction flight at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., March 10 to improve low-cost Lance missile targets.
The USASMDC/ARSTRAT Targets Team's support of the NATO Medium Extended Air Defense System Management Agency, or NAMEADSMA, with the launch of 10 Lance missile targets led to plans for risk reduction flights to culminate the examination, analysis and engineering efforts support by a wide variety of personnel from many organizations.
"Lance is another in our low-cost target suite," said Bryon Manley, SMDC Test Execution Support Division chief. "The Department of Defense no longer has operational Lance missiles, and my division went and picked them up because there are programs that need low-cost targets. We refurbished and provided 10 Lance tactical ballistic missiles test articles to exercise the defense system at a fraction of the cost of other targets normally available in the integrated missile defense community."
Although it was a highly successful test campaign, Manley was forced to remove the on board instrumentation, including the differential GPS due to potential electrical interface concerns.
The Targets Team develops affordable ballistic missile targets in support of integrated missile defense and is currently in the design phase of three new missiles. The strategy is product-based and bent toward increasing the number of available testing opportunities through lower cost test assets.
"At the end of the MEADS test program I thought that might be the last time we used this target, but interest from other customers surfaced in late 2014 and set us on a path to launch more," Manley said. "Differential GPS systems are desired by most test engineers because it provides the time space and position information of the target during the flight. This data is crucial for post-test reconstruction and verification of interceptor seeker and radar performance."
The target launches were not without issues as the target team encountered and overcame some electrical interference issues on the Lance.
"The new target configuration requirements in 2014 presented us with several challenges," said Kevin Creekmore, SMDC Test Execution Support Division chief engineer. "In addition to making sure we understood the effects of the GPS on the missile, we were also asked to integrate a new never-before-flown Hit Detection System.
"The Hit Detection System provides information on weapon interceptor-to-missile target body orientation and also provides insight into how well the interceptor 'killed' the target," he added. "It is critical that each time we add a new system that we investigate as cost efficiently as possible the potential effects it might have on the missile."
The Targets Team conducted several successful component and system level tests leading up to the integration and launch to quantify any potential issues.
"The successful testing and risk reduction flight improves confidence that the missile and new instrumentation will perform as expected on upcoming Lance missions for our customers," Creekmore said.
Manley talked about how the Targets Team takes seriously its commitment to achieving high output at lower costs and how they work hard to accomplish the mission.
"While other organizations are focused on processes, we are focused on products that align with the DoD Better Buying Power Initiatives," Manley said. "The Lance issues required the test execution engineers from all test participants to buckle down and find solutions to get back on track. I am grateful to my entire team for their long hours and hard work to keep the program on track."
Using excess Army inventory to convert Lance missiles to targets gave the command an opportunity to help affordably advance a modern missile defense system designed to defend the nation's Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.
SMDC is additionally developing solid propellant ballistic missile concepts designed to create assets that span a broader short range ballistic missile spectrum. These concepts, coupled with the retired liquid missile system Lance, are part of a suite of short range ballistic missiles designed to meet Army Integrated Missile Defense needs while focusing on reduced cost and increased threat representation.
"Although the SMDC Targets Team products are a small part of the cost of weapon system development, the division takes immense pride in doing their part," Creekmore said. "Affordable ballistic missile targets for developmental and operational testing is critical to proving out weapon performance, and if we can save them money then we will."
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