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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
	FY98 Annual Report

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The Wide Area Munition (WAM) is a smart, autonomous top attack anti-tank/anti-vehicle munition; designed to defeat armored combat vehicles from a standoff distance. It utilizes acoustic and seismic sensors in its ground platform to detect, track, and classify potential targets, and then launches an infrared detecting submunition or "sublet" over the top of the selected target. Once the sublet detects the target, it fires an explosively formed penetrator to defeat the target. Target vehicles include, but are not limited to, tanks (e.g., T-72, and T-80), breachers (e.g., KMT-4/5), and lightly armored tracked vehicles (e.g., BMP, 152-mm Self-Propelled Howitzer, and BMD). The variant currently in LRIP is designated as the Hand Emplaced WAM (HE-WAM). It is designed to be carried and emplaced by one person, have a standoff lethal radius of 100 meters, 360 degrees around, and be fully autonomous from final arming to target engagement. The WAM, when fielded, will provide considerable precision engagement force for the Army in the Joint Vision 2010 scenario.

The WAM program, due to its funding threshold, was not required to undergo operational test oversight from this office, because it is the first fielded member of the WAM family of munitions, this system qualified for LFT&E oversight.

The WAM Required Operational Capability (ROC) document was initially prepared as a stand-alone document to the HE-WAM version, with possible future variants proposed as Pre-Planned Product Improvements (P3I). The Army rewrote the ROC as a "Family of WAM" ROC for three variants: (1) hand-emplaced; (2) Volcano-delivered; and (3) deep attack WAM. The ROC for the Family of WAM was approved on March 14, 1990. The Family of WAM has since been designated as an ACAT II program. Only the HE-WAM version has been developed, and was approved for LRIP in September 1996 with a full-rate production decision¾ Milestone III planned for December 1998.

The final LFT activity took place at Yuma Proving Ground in September 1997 when six tactical WAMs with live warheads were fired at passing T-72 Soviet-main battle tanks. Although three of the sublets hit their targets, only one caused substantial damage. The three hit locations did not match test based analytical aimpoint distribution against tank targets. During FY98, the Program Office conducted some additional test activities after the ground station algorithms had been modified to correct launches against false targets that had occurred during the September 1997 developmental live warhead tests.

During tactical and static (tower tests) firings against tanks and BMPs, WAM's explosively formed penetrator has demonstrated the ability to perforate substantial areas of potential threat armor targets and cause loss of mobility or firepower after perforation. This year DOT&E reviewed the hitpoints from the live firings at Yuma and the aimpoints from the camera-equipped WAM shots at all test locations. Both the hitpoints/aimpoints were compared to a model-derived data base generated in 1993 and 1995. Also, DOT&E has coordinated with the material developer to determine the appropriate hit distributions for targets of interest. The DOT&E assessment of WAM's lethality will be submitted to Congress prior to the full-rate production decision.

Before the live fire tower tests, DOT&E conducted a review of the differences in WAM warhead performance data using dynamically and statically fired warheads. The "dynamic" tests were conducted with live warheads that were both spinning and coning to simulate actual warhead motion, while the "static" tests were conducted with live stationary warheads. The review determined that warhead performance variation against intended targets was relatively small. Therefore, tower tests for the full-up system-level LFT&E were conducted statically.