Intelligence

Joint Precision Strike Demonstration (JPSD)

In response to deficiencies noted during Desert Storm, the Director, Defense Research & Engineering initiated seven Science Technology Thrusts in January 1992. One of those thrusts was Precision Strike. As a result the JPSD Project Office has and is conducting several Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTDs) to improve OSD sensor to shooter precision strike process.

Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTDs) exploit mature and maturing technologies to solve important military problems. A declining budget, significant changes in threats, and an acceleration in the pace of technology development have created challenges to America's ability to adequately respond to rapidly evolving military needs. In addition, the global proliferation of military technologies, resulting in relatively easy access to these technologies by potential adversaries, has further increased the need to rapidly transition new capabilities from the developer to the user.

Central to the successful execution of JPSD's multiple projects is the Integration and Evaluation Center (IEC) in Alexandria, Va., which provides the high fidelity tool set for rapidly assessing complex distributed systems in a realistic operational context. Developed by Raytheon, the IEC enables widely-distributed, large-scale exercises to combine C4I, weapon and sensor systems with a network of modeling and simulation centers to form a virtual warfighting environment.

The Counter-MRL ACTD demonstrated an order of magnitude improvement in the ability of the joint forces, working together, to destroy fleeting targets such as multiple rocket launchers, TELs, and similar vehicles. The Precision/Rapid Counter-Multiple Rocket Launch [CMRL] ACTD developed and demonstrated an adverse weather, day/night, end-to-end, sensor-to-shooter, precision deep strike capability, capable of neutralizing the threat posed by the 240mm Multiple Rocket Launchers (MRLs) and 170mm Self-propelled (SP) Guns deployed just north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in North Korea. The system was proven in FY96 at a demonstration at Fort AP Hill. The system was to be integrated on a Hunter UAV, but reconfiguration of the DoD UAV program precluded Hunter availability. Plans were to demonstrate it at Fort Hunter Ligget on an ALTUS Predator UAV. The sensor leave-behind for the counter multiple rocket launcher (CMRL) problem is an Aided Target Recognizer for application to TESAR. The AiTRAP will cue the targeteer to 240 MRL targets. A preliminary demonstration of this capability was shown in FY96 at Fort AP Hill. A demonstration of real-time SAR ATR against 240 MRL targets will occur in 4QFY97. The first leave-behind was a Challenger-based system for CONUS Predator systems in FY97, and the second leave-behind was a COTS processor in the Predator ground control station (GCS) for OCONUS deployment.

In the recently concluded Counter Multiple Rocket Launcher (CMRL) ACTD, advanced integrated command and control capabilities were developed and transitioned to US Forces, Korea, to improve effectiveness. On-going activities include the Rapid Terrain Visualization (RTV) ACTD, which is developing a capability to produce high-resolution digital terrain products rapidly for U.S. early entry combat forces, and the recently initiated Theater Precision Strike Operations (TPSO) ACTD, which is addressing the critical needs of the ground component commander, U.S. Forces, Korea. In TPSO, Raytheon Systems Company will develop an automated operations center to improve the integration, planning and execution of theater-level precision strike operations by combined U.S. and Coalition Forces.

In February 1999 Raytheon Company was awarded a five-year, $95 million follow-on contract by the US Army Topographic Engineering Center to support execution of the Joint Precision Strike Demonstration (JPSD) program. JPSD is a flexible research and development program encompassing multiple projects that create and demonstrate solutions to a variety of precision strike challenges. The majority of these projects are executed as Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTDs), which involve the evolutionary development and integration of advanced technology solutions to solve critical warfighting issues.

JPSD formally began execution of the Rapid Terrain Visualization (RTV) ACTD on 1 October 1996, following a series of preliminary demonstrations during the previous year at Ft. Bragg with the 18th Airborne Corps. The RTV ACTD will revolutionize the way military commanders visualize the battlefield.

During 1996, Combined Forces Command (CFC) in Korea identified critical theater military requirements the urgency of which could best be addressed by an ACTD. In December 1996, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology directed JPSD to develop a concept for a TPSO ACTD. During 1997, JPSD and CFC developed the detailed objectives and programmatics for TPSO, and the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Advanced Technology approved the concept in late 1997. TPSO was the FY98 top priority ACTD program within the U.S. Army. It is a six-year program (FY98-FY03), including two years of sustainment, and is fully funded at $91M ($77.5M Army, $13.5M OSD).

The TPSO mission is to demonstrate within CFC, a significantly improved capability to plan and direct theater counterfire (CF) and precision strike operations through the real-time synchronization of U.S. and coalition assets. These capabilities are designed to be exportable to all Warfighting CINCs worldwide.

Theater Precision Strike Operations (TPSO) will develop an enhanced joint and combined, sensor-to-shooter, C4I system that incorporates intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); rapid targeting and shared Common Operating Picture (COP), all linked through command, control, communication and computer systems to responsive weapons delivery systems. TPSO will provide for Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment (DII COE) compliant networking technologies to establish enhanced functionality, and compatibility through the Global Command and Control System (GCCS) and Army Battle Command Systems (ABCS) with joint and coalition partners. The program will integrate these solutions into theater-level, joint, C4I systems. Functionalities to be expanded include COP displays, automated decision aids, automated correlation and cross cueing, and inter-service / coalition message formats and processes to support digital calls for fire.

JPSD continues to develop the Joint Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance ACTD, which became an approved ACTD in December 1999. More information will be forthcoming on this latest challenging project. In addition, JPSD was appointed the Technical Manager for the Joint Continuous Strike Environment (JCSE) ACTD in April 1999 and, in conjunction with US EUCOM, the Operational Manager, has revitalized the execution of this ACTD.