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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
	FY98 Annual Report

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The XM1001 will provide a short-range antipersonnel capability (from muzzle to 100 meters) for the Mk 19 Mod 3 Grenade Machine Gun. This cartridge is a flechette-dispensing grenade that will be used by combat forces as a force multiplier against ground troops in: (1) exposed positions; (2) extremely rugged terrain; (3) dense vegetation; (4) military operations in urban environment; and (5) other scenarios where the effectiveness and user-safety of the current Mk 19 family of ammunition is limited. This capability will support the Joint Vision 2010 concept of dominant maneuver.

This program was briefed to DOT&E as part of the Fourth Live Fire Test and Evaluation Oversight Review Conference for Small and Medium Caliber Ammunition held in December 1997. The total number of rounds produced is unknown at this time, but is estimated to be over one million. Hence, the Army nominated the XM1001 as a LFT&E program.

The XM1001 40MM grenade contains 115, two-inch long flechettes, with half of those packed within the grenade facing rearward. Upon exiting the muzzle of the Mk 19, an expulsion charge detonates expelling the flechettes. Upon expulsion, the rearward facing flechettes rotate in-flight until they are forward facing.

This munition is part of the Soldier Enhancement Program (SEP) and funds were first identified for it in the June 1996 SEP review. The program was briefed to DOT&E/LFT&E in December 1997 and since that time, the Army's Evaluation Analysis Center has been involved with the preparation of the combined strategy and event design plan (EDP) for the LFT&E effort. The preparation of and negotiations for the strategy and the EDP have occupied the majority of FY98. LFT is currently scheduled for April-August 1999. DOT&E activity for this program involved LFT&E only.

T&E activity during FY98 has focused solely on the development of an acceptable combined LFT&E strategy and EDP.

In November 1997, the Army Research, Development, and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, conducted preliminary testing of the XM1001 munition at the Aberdeen Test Center. Forty-eight grenades were fired: 20 individually (ten at-50 degrees F; ten at+120 degrees F) and 28 in two-to-four round bursts (at ambient temperature). Testing data collected included: (1) muzzle velocity of the grenade, (2) velocity of the flechettes, (3) rate-of-fire of the Mk 19 while firing the XM1001, and (4) number of flechette impacts on head-and-shoulder silhouettes at 100 meters.

The data revealed a lower than expected average velocity for the flechettes and a lower than expected number of impacts on the targets, especially for the cold-conditioned rounds.

A robust LFT&E program, comprising 112 shots against a variety of targets (i.e., personnel simulants in the open and behind protection, with and without body armor), has been outlined in the approved combined LFT&E strategy and EDP (approved by DOT&E on November 2, 1998). Such a program will provide the necessary data for a thorough evaluation of the performance of the XM1001.

Initial testing of the XM1001 showed that the predictions of flechette velocity and penetration were too high. Preliminary testing, however minimal in nature, is often necessary to provide accurate values for early assessment of performance, model input, and to assist with Live Fire Test planning.