South Korean officers visit APG

A delegation from South Korea paid a visit to Aberdeen Proving Ground July 27. Brig. Gen. Jong Sik Jeong - the commander of the Army Test and Evaluation Group, Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) - visited APG with Lt. Col. Yeol Heo, an infantry weapon test officer from ROKA's Test and Evaluation Group to attend a series of briefings on U.S. Army test and evaluation programs

and tour APG's Aberdeen Test Center.

The visit was sponsored by the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) and its subordinate Army Evaluation Center (AEC), Developmental Test Command (DTC) and Operational Test Command (OTC).

DTC's Hojoon Park served as translator for the visit, which began at AEC's headquarters building on APG. Brian Simmons, ATEC's technical director as well as AEC's director, welcomed the

guests there and introduced the briefers from ATEC organizations.

The visitors came to APG to examine ATEC's test and evaluation process, and to explore the possibility of using its ranges in the future and possibly leverage the expertise that exists within

ATEC, according to Dr. Thomas Cao, AEC's technical director.

"Clearly, they recognize us as the center of excellence when it comes to a world class workforce for testing and evaluation of all of the Army's systems," he said, adding that the visitors were genuinely impressed with the ATEC workforce, capabilities and facilities.

Cleon Raynor, who serves ATEC's Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations as chief of plans, presented the visitors with ATEC's command overview, which illustrated how ATEC fits within the Army command structure and reports directly to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. The briefing focused on ATEC test and evaluation of some 400 systems, ranging from the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected family of vehicles to body armor, with some 1,100 test events occurring daily across ATEC's test centers, where about 10,000 personnel support the Army with work at 26 locations in 19 states, and some testing conducted overseas.

Raynor's briefing informed the visitors of the Army's integrated strategy for getting weapon systems into Soldiers' hands, being the only service branch in the U.S. military to combine developmental and operational testing. The briefing described how ATEC is "significantly focused on rapid fielding," reducing the time span for conducting developmental and operational testing

and completing system evaluations.

The South Korean visitors also heard about ATEC's deployment of teams to Afghanistan and Iraq to conduct forward operational assessments of various weapon systems, working closely with troops in the combat theater to gain timely and accurate data on system performance there,

with the aim of helping the Army understand if there are any system risks and limitations, and address issues that may impact Soldiers using these systems.

Cao followed with a command briefing that provided an overview of AEC's capabilities and mission. He noted how the traditional acquisition process - with its deliberate pace, mitigated risks, bureaucratic procedures and accumulation of as much system data as possible - has become an abbreviated process for many weapon systems. Due to the Army's push to equip Soldiers in theater as rapidly as possible to meet their urgent wartime needs, many of these programs have

overlapped and become quick-turnaround efforts that have been "more opportunistic" and ad hoc than in the past, and less bureaucratic than the traditional process, according to the briefing. The visitors were informed that limited developmental testing and operational testing for a

variety of systems mean the Army obtains incomplete data, produces capabilities and limitations reports in lieu of the more traditional system evaluation reports, and accepts some level of increased risk so that items can be fielded more rapidly.

Brig. Gen. Jeong and Lt. Col. Heo were also told how Army evaluators must take many factors into account when assessing war-fighting systems, including the logistics they require, their interoperability with other weapon systems, the hardware and software involved, the training

required to operate the systems, and the tactics, techniques and procedures Soldiers must use to employ them safely and most effectively. To meet those requirements, AEC is currently focused

on the concept of "mission-oriented, integrated system evaluation," a process designed to enhance the Army's analysis of weapon systems' effectiveness, suitability and survivability.

Daniel Burrows, technical director of AEC's Integrated Logistics Support Evaluation Directorate, briefed the visitors on a variety of issues that relate to logistically supporting the acquisition of today's complex weapon systems. The directorate ties together the evaluation of systems'

integrated logistic support (ILS); their reliability, availability, and maintainability

(RAM); and MANPRINT, a term coined in 1984 by Gen. Richard Thompson, then commander of the Army Materiel Command, to mean human-systems integration. As weapon systems became more technologically advanced, the Army discovered that Soldiers in the field could not operate many of them as effectively as highly trained operators such as the technicians of the labs and research facilities developing the systems.

MANPRINT is also the designation for the Army's Human Systems Integration Directorate. In essence, MANPRINT is focused on the manpower needed to operate today's technologically

advanced weapon systems, the Soldier capabilities needed to operate them effectively, the training needed, the engineering that takes human factors into account, safety issues and health hazards associated with system operation, and the survivability of Soldiers when using such systems in combat.

AEC suitability evaluations integrate ILS, RAM, and MANPRINT analysis with modeling and simulation, and support from many partners, Burrows told the visitors. ATEC applies this directorate's mission-based suitability evaluation process for longer-term "programs of record" to rapid-acquisition programs. Among these are the Remote Weapon System, various up-armored vehicles with this system, the Remote Vehicle with Armor, unattended ground sensors, and metal detectors used to find wires and weapons caches.

Louis Brown, who heads up DTC's Directorate of Plans and Operations, briefed the South Korean visitors on the command's mission, which includes planning, conducting and reporting the data from developmental and production tests across a wide range of natural and simulated environments. He told them that DTC supports successful operations through rigorous scientific and engineering testing.

When needed, DTC provides support, expertise and test resources to operational missions, including ATEC's forward operational assessments in Afghanistan and Iraq. One of the first such missions it supported involved the deployment of DTC personnel to Kuwait to help ATEC install instrumentation, similar to the "black boxes" installed on airliners, to record data on three types of vehicles being used extensively in the Iraq combat theater. So far, 14 rotations of ATEC

forward-operational-assessment teams have deployed to the combat theater in southwest Asia, and DTC has played a key role in this program.

Some of the critical developmental testing DTC has conducted in recent years includes the family of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles and other systems designed to protect Soldiers

from improvised explosive devices and personal protective equipment for Soldiers. It has also tested unmanned aerial systems and other robotic systems designed to survey risky environments,

support disposal of IED or other explosive ordnance and otherwise keep Soldiers out of harm's way.

DTC also verifies the safety of most Army systems, Brown told the visitors. It issues a safety release for systems under test, a stand-alone document that indicates the system is safe for use and maintenance by Soldiers, and it describes the specific hazards of the system under test,

based on test results, inspections and a system safety analysis. Operational limits and precautions are included. The safety release must be available prior to start of testing, training and other events where systems are operated.

DTC's safety confirmation is a separate document that provides the materiel developer and the decision maker with the test agency's safety findings and conclusions. It states whether the specified safety requirements have been met, includes a risk assessment for hazards not adequately controlled, lists any technical or operational limitations, and highlights any

safety problems requiring further testing. The safety confirmation may be attached to AEC's system evaluation report.

To keep abreast of military systems as they evolve, DTC develops and procures new test technology, test instrumentation, and selected models and simulations. It also ensures that its test range infrastructure is responsive to the needs of the Army and other services.

Following the morning's briefings and lunch with some of ATEC's senior leaders, the South Korean delegation visited the Aberdeen Test Center, where they met with commander Col. Jeffrey

Holt and received a command overview before visiting ATC's Munson Test Area, Roadway Simulator and the Trench Warfare II Instrumentation Building. Brig. Gen. Jeong called the facilities he toured and the capabilities briefings he received "very impressive."