ATEC hosts first DA test ammunitions workshop at APG

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command's Logistics Directorate hosted the first Department of the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans Test Munitions Management workshop on March 25 and 26.

The two-day workshop provided a venue for munitions test experts to identify the points-of-contact for test event ammunition requirements; discuss test event programming and execution; review and discuss the ammunition requirement process; and highlight potential changes to the Army Regulation 5-13 and review the U.S. Army Audit Agency's reports on ammunition requirements and munitions expenditures.

"The workshops (served as a) a forum to bring the primary representatives of the test ammunition requirements community together in order to review and discuss test ammunition requirement policy, standard operating procedure(s), and the many challenges associated with getting the required ammunition to the right test site in the necessary quantities to support a scheduled test," said Kevin Fila, ammunition test manager at Department of the Army Munitions Management Division.

Fila and Richard Senkbile, both from DA Munitions Management division, led the workshop, which Fila described as an opportunity to review ammunition processes from ammunition requirement submission to delivery of ammunition to the test site.

Senkbile provided an overview of AR 5-13, the Total Army Munitions Requirements and Prioritization Policy. Jennifer Bennett, ATEC logistics management specialist, who organized the workshop, went on to explain that AR 5-13 names ATEC as the single point of contact and ammunition manager for all Army Research, Development, Test and Evaluation program requirements for standard munitions, excluding Army Material Command.

ATEC's responsibilities in this mission area include:

• Conduct data calls with customers and receive out-of-cycle requirements for RDTE standard Army-managed ammunition and missiles;

• Manage standard ammunition requirements in the Total Ammunition Management Information System (TAMIS);

• Submit standard ammunition requirements to DCS, G-3/7/TR Munitions Management Officer for validation and resourcing;

• Manage all Army TEST authorizations at the ATEC command hierarchy level in the TAMIS;

• Represent the Army RDTE ammunition community at forums designed to support Army munitions requirements, programming, acquisition and management; and

• Establish a program to monitor ammunition stockpile management at ATEC facilities.

"This was the DA's first Test Munitions Management workshop and ATEC hosted it," Bennett said. "This provided an excellent opportunity for stakeholders to address and resolve the issues that were identified in the audit reports."

"The workshop was very successful based on feedback from the test ammunition requirements community," Fila said. "The workshop was an opportunity for the primary POC's to meet each other, identify issues in the test ammunition requirement process, discuss potential solutions to those issues, and build better working relationships across the test community."

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