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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
FY97 Annual Report

ARMY TACTICAL MISSILE SYSTEM (ATACMS) BLOCK II

	Army ACAT ID Program Missile Quantity 1,528 Submunition Quantity- 19,871 Total program cost $4,007.1M Average unit cost $1.46M LRIPs - 1QFY98/1QFY99 Full-rate Production 4QFY00 Prime Contractor Lockheed-Martin Vought Systems (Missile) Northrop-Grumman (submunition)

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The ATACMS Block II/ Brilliant Anti-armor Technology (BAT) submunition is a precision engagement weapon that takes advantage of the US ability to develop a missile that integrates stand-off delivery accuracy with a submunition that has the required effectiveness to kill moving armor columns in the deep battle zone. This precision engagement capability will enable the joint US and combined allied forces to interdict enemy formations through synchronized operations from dispersed locations. This ability to engage deep targets will contribute to the joint effort that assures dominant maneuver.

The Block II ATACMS missile is the delivery system chosen by the Army to replace the now defunct Tri-Service Stand-off Attack Missile as the deep attack carrier for the Brilliant Anti-Armor Technology Submunition (BAT). The BAT is a self-guided submunition that uses on-board sensors to seek, identify, employ a top attack engagement profile, and destroy moving tanks and other armored combat vehicles. It uses an acoustic sensor to seek out its armor targets, and infra-red sensor to engage the vehicles.

After dispense of the 13 submunitions from the ATACMS Block II missile, the weapons glide to their preprogrammed target area, and each selects a discrete target within its assigned acoustic segment of the formation. Once a target has been acquired by the terminal infra-red seeker, the weapon guides to terminal impact and uses a tandem shaped-charge warhead to destroy the vehicle. With a relatively large acoustic search/glide footprint, the BAT is capable of accommodating target location ambiguity inherent with the engagement of moving formations.

The Block II missile modification program entered EMD in May 1995. A BAT limited rate initial production (LRIP) decision is scheduled for 1QFY98, missile LRIP in 1QFY99. The system will accomplish the operational test and evaluation in two phases through FY99 and FY00. The milestone III production decision is currently planned for late 1QFY00.

The principal test activities to date have been developmental events, including Design Verification Tests (DVTs) and Contractor Development Tests (CDTs). The DVTs were single submunition drops from a commercial fixed wing aircraft. The sequence of the DVT testing built up to increasingly representative submunition evaluations. The DVT sequence both tested the hardware configuration and contributed to the modeling and simulation data base that will be eventually accredited for use in the operational test and evaluation phase. The CDT series builds upon the DVT results and culminates in full system Engineering Design Tests of missile/submunition function. Because of the importance of all the developmental activity in the validation of the modeling and simulation to the overall program evaluation, DOT&E and Army operational test agency representatives observed key test events throughout both DVT and CDT.

The evaluation of the Army TACMS Block II program also relies on a series of supporting test events and exercises to demonstrate and evaluate the end-to-end system performance. All phases of the Army's decide, detect, deliver concept of employment will be evaluated. Key evaluation events include the MLRS Family of Munitions (MFOM) Force Development Test and Evaluation (conducted in FY95), ongoing Joint STARS System testing, and data gathering activity at selected joint exercise and training events.

The ATACMS Block II Test and Evaluation Master Plan outlines an adequate operational evaluation strategy and supporting resources. The TEMP was approved by DOT&E in July 1995 and the testing is being conducted in accordance with the approved strategy. An update to the approved TEMP that further defines expected suitability criteria is currently in staffing.

Current DOT&E assessment of the developmental flight testing to date is cautionary. The most production representative tests have been the CDT series. Of the fourteen CDT flight events, six were successful, three were failures, one was a no-test, and the remainder have not yet been through a scoring conference. The current point estimate of operating reliability of the submunition is .67 (LRIP exit criterion is .68, final ORD requirement is .86).

The failures/no test conditions and attendant remedial actions have been:

• CDT-1 (no test)-- IR dome fogging and deployment system malfunction. Engineering development of a dome heater. Resequence tail and fin deployment.

• CDT-4--Deployment system malfunction. Redesign the deployment system restraining band system.

• CDT-6 (dual drop)--Two failures induced by contaminated cooling gas and seeker cooling design. Redesign of the gas flow venturi and enhanced quality control requirements on gas supply bottles.

• CDT-8.1-- Premature detonation of warhead. Fault tree analysis underway.

• CDT-9 (Data currently in scoring conference)--Submunition failed to acquire a target.

• CDT-10 (Data currently in scoring conference)--Submunition failed to acquire a target.

• CDT-10B (Data currently in scoring conference)--Parachute squib wires crossed.

• CDT-11 (Data currently in scoring conference)--Submunition failed to acquire a target.

The Live Fire Test and Evaluation (LFT&E) strategy was developed to take advantage of expected hits on target vehicles in the drop tests of submunitions with live warheads. In the past eighteen months, there have been only three live warhead drops, and only one of these hit a target.

Each test event, regardless of success or failure, has contributed to the overall modeling and simulation validation and accreditation schema. The program office has been aggressive in implementing a strategy of early involvement of operational testers in order to insure that the developmental test data is available to the DOT&E and Army operational evaluators for both independent simulation and early assessments.