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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
FY97 Annual Report

SENSOR FUZED WEAPON (SFW)

	Air Force ACAT ID Program 5084 systems Total program cost (TY$) $2076.5M Average unit cost (TY$) $0.4M Full-rate production 3QFY96 Prime Contractor SFW: Textron WCMD: Lockheed Martin

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The CBU-97/B SFW is an anti-armor cluster munition to be employed by fighter/attack and bomber aircraft to provide precision engagement and multiple kills per pass against armored and support vehicle combat formations. The primary components of this 1000 pound class weapon are the SUU-66/B tactical munitions dispenser (TMD), 10 BLU-108/B submunitions, and 40 "hockey puck" shaped skeet infrared sensing projectiles. SFW is currently delivered as an unguided, gravity weapon. After release, the TMD opens and dispenses the ten submunitions which are parachute stabilized. At a preset altitude sensed by a radar altimeter, a rocket motor fires to spin the submunition and initiate an ascent. The submunition then releases its four projectiles, which are lofted over the target area. The projectile's sensor detects a vehicle's infrared signature, and an explosively formed penetrator fires at the heat source.

The SFW program entered full scale development in 1985. After a DAB program review, the USD(A&T) authorized LRIP in March 1992. In November 1994, USD(A&T) delegated the full rate production decision to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. The Air Force Milestone III Acquisition Decision Memorandum was signed in June 1996.

AFOTEC conducted two operational testing phases for the SFW. IOT&E(1) occurred between 1990 and 1992 in support of the LRIP decision. Thirty-six munitions were released in 30 missions at three locations. Critical issues addressed SFW's capability to achieve multiple kills per pass, its effectiveness as a general purpose munition, and its reliability and supportability. IOT&E(2), conducted in support of the Milestone III decision, occurred in 1995 and 1996. Fourteen munitions were released in 10 missions. IOT&E(2) primarily addressed issues not fully tested in IOT&E(1), including: additional countermeasures, multiple releases, and an alternate target formation.

The IOT&E target arrays consisted of threat representative vehicle surrogates in combat formation. The target vehicles were modified to simulate the infrared signatures of moving land combat vehicles as "seen" by the SFW projectile. Based on hit locations and impact angles, a damage assessment model was used to estimate the probabilities of kill.

The BLRIP report submitted in May 1996 determined that SFW is operationally effective only when employed at low altitudes using level or shallow angle dive deliveries. The weapon is most effective when employed at low altitude from level flight attitude in a non-countermeasured environment. Due to TMD performance limitations, the current SFW weapon configuration provides the user a limited range of tactical employment options.

The Wind Compensated Munition Dispenser (WCMD) and SFW P3I programs are intended to address current performance shortfalls in SFW. The WCMD is an inertial guidance kit that will be attached to the SFW in order to improve delivery accuracy when released from medium to high altitude. The SFW with WCMD is designated CBU-105. The P3I program involves three major improvements: adding a second sensor to improve target discrimination, raising the radar altimeter height of function to increase area coverage, and altering the warhead design to improve performance against softer targets.

A Live Fire Test and Evaluation (LFT&E) was conducted at Eglin AFB, FL, in 1990 to evaluate SFW's lethality against its design target set. The LFT&E consisted of 20 statically aimed and fired SFW submunitions against "threat representative" tanks, light armor and trucks. During LFT&E, the SFW warhead demonstrated the capability to immobilize all land combat vehicles tested, and was found to be sufficiently robust to withstand projected improvements in threat armor and physical countermeasures.

During 1-2QFY97, a government-conducted flyoff tested two competing contractors' WCMD designs against a standard set of tests. After the conclusion of the flyoff, the Air Force in January 1997 down-selected to one contractor to proceed with pilot production and DT/OT&E. An unsuccessful challenge to the contract award delayed the start of the WCMD DT/OT&E until FY98. The start of SFW FOT&E 1&2 also has been delayed to FY98 due to delays in delivery of production SFW and ongoing upgrades to current test ranges.

Live fire testing of the P3I SFW is being conducted in accordance with a revised test strategy designed to address the lethality of the new multi-fragment lethal mechanism. The first of three planned tests using a helicopter-mounted aimpoint measuring system was conducted at Yuma Proving Ground to estimate the aimpoint selection of the P3I sensor against a variety of targets. Also, the contractor conducted a number of warhead development tests as part of the process of finalizing the design of the new lethal mechanism.

The Director last approved the SFW TEMP in November 1996, approving five future phases of OT&E testing and a new LFT&E strategy for the P3I SFW. FOT&E-1&2 will occur in FY98-99, and will examine performance of low-rate and early full-rate production weapons. A CBU-105 DT/IOT&E in FY98 will examine performance of the WCMD on the SFW. A P3I DT/FOT&E in FY99 will address P3I performance on SFW without WCMD. FOT&E-3 in FY00-01 will address end-to-end performance of the CBU-105 SFW with P3I and WCMD. Current testing is being completed in support of the approved TEMP strategy.

The approved LFT&E strategy will be completed in two phases. Phase I, scheduled to be completed during FY98, will include collection of sensor data against a representative target set, warhead performance data against armor plate targets, and tower tests. Phase II testing will be conducted during FY99 and will consist of a maximum of seven additional tower shots against the same targets using aimpoints gathered from the sensor effort in Phase I.

Although initial testing of the WCMD tailkit resulted in good performance, the first SFW WCMD release resulted in the weapon impacting well short of the target area. Analysis identified deficiencies in the autopilot design which failed to fly the CBU all the way to the target. An additional high speed test point resulted in inadvertent tail fin movements which caused the CBU to spin and porpoise after release. DOT&E continues to monitor both the WCMD and SFW programs due to interrelated effects.

The SFW P3I program is experiencing problems with the newly designed active sensor and with the PEP 2 radar altimeter. Testing of the PEP 2 radar altimeter, which is required to support P3I, has identified deficiencies in performance. Latest testing revealed poor performance due to faulty operation of radar altimeter. The active sensor design is also behind schedule and will not support the planned captive flight testing that was scheduled at Grayling test facility for winter 1998. Textron is considering going to a backup design and supplier for a new sensor.

Overall , the SFW program has fallen behind schedule and is having difficulty meeting requirements. Further delays in PEP 2 or P3I development could potentially threaten the planned cut-in plan for P3I weapons and result in less capable baseline weapons being procured. Delays in the SFW P3I program also threatens to adversely impact the JSOW BLU-108 program.