Last updated 9 August 2004
Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1973
XI.
Research and Development
Within the past five years a pronounced movement away from the traditional, unquestioning acceptance of new technology has taken place. Congress and a better informed, more technically literate public are active participants in the debate over the social effects of technology. The scientific community, itself, is questioning the expected uses of its discoveries and has exhibited a general reluctance to accept new technology without analysis and discussion of its effects on society, the en
vironment, and future generations. Behind this questioning trend is the increasing complexity and the global effects of modern technology and its by-products.
All these factors have led to a demand for a more thorough, systematic analysis of technological advances, with attention given to their social as well as economic effects. Environmental impact statements are good examples of this process, which has come to be called "technological assessment."
The Department of the Army, a major contributor to technology by virtue of its considerable expenditures for research and development (R&D), took steps during fiscal year 1973 to alert its personnel, particularly in the Army research and development community, to the continuing need for assessing the impact of Army science and technology. Responsibility for providing methodology and policy guidance in this area resides in the Office of the Chief of Research and Development, which, at year's end, was conducting a technology assessment on the effect of lasers. Other actions included an Army-wide Technology Assessment Conference, which was held in October 1972. Attending were technical directors, commanding officers, and other high-ranking individuals representing all the Army's research and development laboratories. Following the conference, the Army Materiel Command held a "teach-in" on technology assessment and established a group with responsibility for guiding the efforts of the Army Materiel Command in this area.
The reorganizations, base consolidations, and closures announced during fiscal year 1973 because of the phase-out of U.S. military presence in Vietnam and the phase-down of the U.S. Army to a peacetime configuration had a relatively small impact on the Army's research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) program. The gradual but steady decrease in the number of military and civilian man-years ex-
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pended in this area over the last several years continued: civilian man-years, which totaled 26,871 for fiscal year 1973, were down by 423 from one year ago, and military man-years, which totaled 8,015, were down by 458 from the fiscal year 1972 level. These decreases reflect the President's economic decisions during fiscal year 1973.
The fiscal year 1973 RDT&E appropriation was for $1,829.032 million, in new obligational authority, of which $4.481 million was transferred to the Defense Mapping Agency to support functions previously performed by the Corps of Engineers. An additional $61.5 million was carried over from the end of fiscal year 1972 balance—$1.5 million in reimbursable accounts receivable and $60 million in Safeguard funds—making a total of $1,886.051 million available in fiscal year 1973. Financial reports of 30 June 1973 indicated that by the end of the fiscal year all but $91.8 million in RDT&E funds had been obligated. The unusually high obligation rate (over 95 percent) reflects the command emphasis during the last two years on prompt execution of approved programs and the gradual implementation of incremental funding concepts throughout the entire RDT&E program.
The Office of the Chief of Research and Development (OCRD ) submitted a fiscal year 1974 RDT&E budget request totaling $2,396 million to the Army's Budget Review Committee in August 1972. OCRD proposed increases for the rising funding requirements associated with tactical weapons systems, including increased pay costs, price escalation, and programed increases that normally occur as a weapon system progresses through the developmental cycle.
Following reviews by the Budget Review Committee, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Office of Management sand Budget, a revised request for $2,109 million in RDT&E funds was included in the President's fiscal year 1974 budget, which was submitted to Congress in January 1973. Final congressional action on the request had not been completed at the close of the fiscal year.
R&D Management and Organization
A number of changes in policies and procedures were implemented during fiscal year 1973 as new materiel acquisition guidelines were converted into research and development management improvements. These changes stemmed from decisions to decentralize most of the control over development programs from Headquarters, Department of the Army, to the Army's materiel managers and to tailor management structures to the characteristics of a given system. Three of the most significant policy changes are summarized below.
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To shorten the development time for a system, operational testing will be conducted earlier than ever before, will be closely linked to development testing, and will be spread out over the development cycle so that test results will be available before key decisions have to be made. As a general rule the development contractor will receive the first production contract, a policy that will not only save time, but will also clearly fix responsibility for problems encountered during the production phase. Production engineering and planning, formerly done toward the end of the development, will now be started in the early stages of development.
A second major policy change provides for the full funding of each priority development project. Implementation of this policy meant that projects for the advanced attack helicopter, Army battle tank, mechanized infantry combat vehicle, surface-to-air missile development, and utility tactical transport aircraft system received complete funding during fiscal year 1973, but as a result cuts were made in the financial support given to other projects.
Finally, a policy was approved that calls for the inclusion of unit production cost goals in the development contracts of all new major weapon systems and those existing systems not yet in production. Performance characteristics stated in terms of allowable bands and schedules may be traded off during production to meet the cost goals established, but contractors may lose their contracts if the goals are not met.
During RDT&E the Army strives to reduce the maintenance costs of military weapons and equipment systems and to increase their reliability and availability. Recent actions taken in this regard include directing increased identification of reliability, availability, and maintainability issues; identifying resource requirements in program decision documents; and increasing the use of "reliability growth" techniques to enable management to track the technical performance characteristics of a system.
In laboratory management, the Army, following a successful Department of Defense pilot project in which four Army laboratories participated (described in last year's report, started its own Reconciliation of Workload, Funds and Manpower (REFLEX) experiment. Thirteen laboratories are participating in the Army version of REFLEX, which unlike the Department of Defense project, is designed to accommodate possible fluctuations in civilian manpower levels, partially through a REFLEX personnel pool. Besides giving laboratory directors greater flexibility and responsibility, REFLEX should improve program planning and the integration of work load, funding, and manpower.
In a related development, plans were approved for the extension, in fiscal year 1974, of the single element funding concept to the exploratory development programs of the Army Materials and Mechanics Research
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Center, the Tank-Automotive Command, the Electronics Command, the Weapons Command, and the Aviation Systems Command. Under this concept, which will give laboratory directors additional flexibility in allocating available resources, one or more complete program elements are assigned to a specific laboratory, and the separate exploratory development projects within each element are combined into a single project. For example, prior to single program element funding, exploratory development by the Army Missile Command was funded under twenty-one projects in seven program elements. Now with single program element funding, most of these projects came under one program element and are handled as a single project called Missile Technology.
Acting upon a recommendation made by a special defense-wide study group that had examined current funding policy at major test and evaluation support centers, the Army in January 1973 decided to require users of nineteen such facilities to make reimbursement for the direct cost of testing and evaluating their product. Implementation of this policy is scheduled for fiscal year 1975 and will involve the following Army centers: Aberdeen Proving Ground, Dugway Proving Ground, White Sands Missile Range, Electronic Proving Ground, Yuma Proving Ground, and Kwajalein Missile Range.
The establishment of a technological overview function in the Office of the Chief of Research and Development in late fiscal year 1972 has led to better use of the over-all technology base as it relates to requirements, planning, coupling, resource allocation, technology assessment, and technology transfer. Of particular note is the progress made in structuring and managing the technology base as a coherent unit, and in utilizing the computer data base, which has been used extensively in financial management, for technology management as well. Considerable technological documentation put into the computer data base is now available for technical management.
Another overview action is the Corporation Report, a review of the technological base similar to reports for top management in large corporations. The Corporate Report for fiscal year 1972 indicates that in return for expending about $350 million on the technology base the Army avoided potential costs of over $500 million. During the coming year a second Corporate Report covering fiscal year 1973 will be completed, and techniques that have been developed for the technological overview function will be refined.
The Research Directorate, OCRD, was reorganized during fiscal year 1973. The directorate was consolidated within the Pentagon, and personnel were reduced 50 percent (114 to 56). Also, the U.S. Army Research Office at Department of the Army headquarters level was elim-
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inated, and the Army Research Office in Durham, North Carolina, was redesignated the U.S. Army Research Office.
The sale of the Research Analysis Corporation (RAC) to the General Research Corporation in September 1972 ended RAC's status as a federal contract research center. Future contracts for Army studies will be awarded competitively. Procuring and monitoring contracts to support research and development studies, handled previously by the U.S. Army Research Office, has devolved upon the Harry Diamond Laboratories under the guidance of the Coordinator of Army Studies.
The Army Scientific Advisory Panel formed an Ad Hoc Group on Ground Combat Vehicle Mobility in May 1972 to study requirements and promote technological advances. The ad hoc group, which submitted its final report on 25 May 1973, found that Army decision-making for ground combat mobility could be improved through the development of co-ordinated simulation models. It also found that the experimental validation of the many analytical models, now in the Army inventory, was slighted. At year's end the recommendations of the ad hoc group were under study.
During the period of this report major research was conducted on the medical and social aspects of drug abuse. In medical research the chief objective was to improve field screening and hospital diagnostic laboratory tests for the detection of drugs in patients, especially morphine, amphetamines, and barbiturates. A urine screening program was established throughout the world, using laboratory techniques adapted from biochemistry research, that is, free radical assay tests for morphine and a gas and liquid chromatography test for amphetamines and barbiturates. Such sensitive serological procedures as radioimmune assay and hemaglutination inhibition were examined for possible use in the mass screening of personnel. Research on the social aspects of the use of drugs centered on the effectiveness of Army drug abuse education programs and the identity of military units having high and low drug abuse rates. Tentative findings indicate that the effectiveness of the drug abuse education program has been limited but might be improved if integrated with the Army's over-all handling of human relations.
Tests conducted during the past year under the Department of Defense Food Research Development Testing and Engineering Program have shown that flexible containers are as reliable as metal cans for packaging the Army's field rations are lighter by nearly 25 percent. Field testing is scheduled for fiscal year 1974. Scheduled for prototype testing by Army and Marine units is an alternative method of field feeding that makes use of a 1 1/2-ton trailer with mounted standard equipment.
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Active research programs in military construction continued at the four major research and development centers—the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army Engineer Water
ways Experiment Station, the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, and the U.S. Army Engineer Power Group. These research programs, costing $6.9 million this past year, are directed at improving the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of Army facilities. Research was also done on special problems such as cold region adaptability, environmental quality, and hardened facilities.
Major advances were made in military construction research and development during the past year in the development of the following: a computer-based design and construction progress reporting system, industrialized construction for military construction use, a method and equipment for testing the strength of wet portland cement concrete, a computerized simulation technique for planning and scheduling air cargo handling facilities that will lead to greater operating efficiency, and more practical construction applications for fibrous reinforced concrete that is stronger and more durable than conventional reinforced concrete. To improve facilities in cold regions, a new roofing system known as the protected membrane roof was demonstrated successfully, and a new economical concept for secondary sewage treatment, the floating tube settler, was developed. An extensive program was begun during the year to improve environmental quality protection in the construction and operation of military facilities. This program is closely co-ordinated with other Department of Defense agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal, state, and private organizations. A design and cost simulator was developed that will predict the type and cost of hardened facilities needed to withstand the destructive effects of various nuclear weapons.
Substantial progress was made during fiscal year 1973 in the Army's Military Engineering and Topographic R&D program, especially in the development of new and improved design criteria and construction techniques to support Army combat operations; development of the technology base for the topographic sciences to meet the military geographic information requirements and the mapping, geodesy, and survey responsibilities of the Defense Mapping Agency and the Army; and advanced and engineering development of new survey and mapping equipment and techniques for the army in the field.
For geodetic and tactical positioning, development of a new geodetic reference system was completed, as well as an evaluation of the Doppler Translocation System. Tests indicate that the Doppler system, which used the Navy Navigation Satellite, has potential in meeting the Army's tactical position requirements.
Major topographic mapping activities included the initiation of studies on using holography for accurate terrain measurements, the start
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of the development of an all-electronic scanning capability, and the completion of the mechanical design and fabrication of an advanced automatic compilation system. Also the results of a sensing arrays study were applied to the design and testing of a reseau measuring system that holds promise for the measuring sciences. Investigations on photosensitive materials identified four types of photosensitive layers that are believed worthy of further laboratory experimentation. Mathematical techniques for smoothing and manipulating topographic data were developed and tested on the Semi :Automatic Cartographic System.
A principal objective of the Army's military geographic information (MGT) research and development program is to overcome deficiencies in the field and to meet both current and projected needs for the collection, reduction, analysis, storage, retrieval, and display of terrain data. Emphasis was given to the use of remote sensors for the rapid acquisition of terrain data and the application of automatic data processing techniques. In this regard, development continued on the Automated Image Data Extraction System (AIDES) and the Army Terrain Information System (ARTINS)—formerly the Engineer Terrain Information System (ENTIS). Research on the relative merit of color, multiband, and panchromatic imagery has led to advances in the development of new methods for the rapid and efficient collection of data. In other MGT activities, progress was made in the development of designs for special topographic products to disseminate data; studies were undertaken on design methodology, test and evaluation methodology, and symbol effectiveness; and preliminary designs of topographic products for infantry and airmobile operations and the employment of battlefield sensors were completed.
Research and development on the effects and applications of nuclear and chemical explosives was directed toward barrier and denial operations and aids to military construction. During the past year, a series of field tests to determine the relative effectiveness of TNT, ammonium nitrate, and slurry explosives were concluded. Sponsored by the Defense Nuclear Agency and the Office of the Chief of Engineers, a chemical explosive cratering test consisting of six one-ton shots and one eighteen-ton shot was carried out at Fort Peck, Montana. The test confirmed the validity of both the irridium tracer fallout simulation technique and the computer modeling code for designing a chemical explosive simulation of a nuclear explosive. It also made it possible to predict crater dimensions for unstemmed nitromethane shots. Although new chemical explosives and blasting agents currently used in the private sector offer great potential for military construction and barrier and denial operations, their military application will be limited until appropriate equipment and technology can be developed and until techniques now in use, which rely on outdated ammonium-nitrate cratering canisters, TNT, or com-
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position C-4, and which are inefficient or unwieldly for use in bulk explosive applications, are replaced.
Plans for rapid deployment and buildup of Army forces make essential the timely construction of base and line of communications facilities in the theater of operations. To achieve such timeliness, the Army, during fiscal year 1973, studied the impact of a newly devised logistics support system on port development requirements. This study provides improved guidance to military engineers in the design and construction of port and harbor facilities, the identification of parameter requirements for soil stabilization, and the effects of repetitive loadings on chemically stabilized soils. Also, an interim analysis of various methods of excavating frozen soil was completed; the analysis showed that mechanical or flame-jet cutting methods are the most promising. Continuing research on the use of ground-based and remote sensors for locating buried ice and coarse-grained soils indicates that selected wave lengths in the infrared spectrum appear capable of subsurface surveillance.
For line of communications facilities, Army R&D people improved the design criteria and construction techniques for the rapid building of roads, airfields, and heliports required in the theater of operations by a deploying Army. These improved criteria and techniques will replace existing ones, which ,are inefficient, outdated, and inadequate. Advances were made in the development of a computerized program to determine the capacity of road networks. A computer code for evaluating approach and departure clearances at airfield runways was developed and incorporated into the automated airfield site selection system. Procedures were developed to predict the time required for land-clearing and the application of soil stabilization methods. Results of the demonstration test on a one-half-mile section of membrane encapsulated soil layer (MESL) road at Fort Hood, Texas, have been excellent. Also, tests of experimental sections of insulated expedient roads were concluded in Alaska. These tests will produce the criteria for theater of operations road designs in cold environments where it is desirable to prevent the melting of permafrost.
Existing design standards and construction techniques for protective structures do not meet the requirements of a modern, mobile Army—the construction effort the structures require is too large, and the protection they afford military personnel and materiel against the effects of conventional sand nuclear weapons is too small. Measures to alleviate both shortcomings are under way. During fiscal year 1973, live-fire tests were completed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, to develop the basics of design criteria for expedient stand-off (triggering) screens. A series of full-scale and half-scale aircraft revetments and half-scale expedient troop shelters were tested. Research continued on the dynamic loads
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transmitted through various coverings for field fortifications. Testing also continued on determining the resistance of frozen soils and compacted snow to the penetration of shell fragments and small-caliber projectiles. This data will establish criteria for the use of these materials in the construction of protective structures in cold environments. Preliminary investigation has demonstrated the feasibility of rapidly constructing fiber-reinforced concrete hemispherical shells with a reusable inflatable forming technique.
The ad hoc Department of Defense Structures Technology Council (STC) was formed in October 1972 to assess the department's structures technology program. The STC will revise the Structures Technology Coordinating Paper and plan for a military-industrial structures technology conference in late 1974.
The rapid growth of the Army's high energy laser program at several Army Materiel Command laboratories led to the establishment, during the past year, of the Army High Energy Laser Program Office (AHELPO). Since its inception, the new office has been identifying technological issues which are critical in the application of laser systems and directing the attention of involved Army laboratories to them. For laser detection and laser countermeasures, the Army Materiel Command has recommended a program for the integration of research and exploratory development activities. The management issues involved had not been settled at year's end.
Building upon the technology base provided by earlier programs, the Army started to develop a new artillery-locating radar program, the AN/TPQ-37. In late fiscal year 1972, contracts were awarded to Hughes Aircraft Company and the Sperry Rand Corporation for the development of two AN/TPQ-37 models. The models will undergo competitive developmental and operational testing, after which one contractor will be selected for initial, low-rate production.
As the developer of the TRI-TAC (see Chapter V) Automatic Switch (AN/TT'C-39), the Army awarded competitive prototype design contracts to two contractors in June 1972 for an eighteen-month period. This was followed by an eighteen-month engineering development phase with procurement of eight switches for testing. In June 1973, the development program was revised so that sixteen engineering development models would be procured and four refurbished models would be provided for operational evaluation in August 1976.
During the past year, the advanced development phase of the Remotely Monitored Battlefield Sensor System (REMBASS) was extended by approximately eighteen months; entry into the engineering development phase will be delayed until the middle of fiscal year 1975 instead
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of early in fiscal year 1974. The expanded advanced development effort will be concentrated mainly on target recognition and position location. Validation testing and cost and operational effectiveness analysis will also be stressed.
Work continued on laser designator units capable of being handheld, ground mounted, or borne by helicopters. Tests have demonstrated the military potential of using such designators with direct and indirect fire weapons. Advanced development efforts for ground- and airborne-precision laser designators continued, while the handheld laser designator entered engineering development. During the period of this report the Army was designated lead service for the development of all ground laser designators.
Fiscal year 1973 marked the start of development of a low-cost, remotely piloted vehicle that will provide laser designations of tank-size targets out to the range of supported laser-guided weapons and conventional artillery fire. This vehicle will help to offset an intensified air defense threat that would make the loss rate of manned aerial systems unacceptable. The first phase in the development of the Remotely Piloted Aerial Observer/ Designator System, which will extend into fiscal year 1975, will determine the feasibility of this weapon.
Deficiencies that emerged during field testing of the Tactical Fire (TACFIRE) Direction System prototype led to modification of the total package procurement contract in this, the lead system in the Army Tactical Data Systems (ARTADS). A revised TACFIRE development schedule calls for the correction of these deficiencies, the concurrent development of new items, and another series of development and operational tests to begin in late fiscal year 1974. Development continued on two others members of the ARTADS family—the Tactical Operations System, which is proposed as a division-level computer assisted command and control system, and the Air Defense Command and Coordination System, AN/TSQ-73, which underwent research and development acceptance tests during the reporting period.
The Army ended the problem-plagued Cheyenne program in August 1972 and replaced it with a new advanced attack helicopter development program, for which Congress appropriated $20 million in fiscal year 1973 funds. By year's end, contracts had been signed with two firms for a competitive fly-off program, but authority to proceed with the program was held in abeyance until estimates of the design-to-cost goal of the contractors could be refined and additional cost reductions identified.
The Cheyenne/TOW association noted in a discussion of the Advanced Aerial Fire Support System in last year's report was replaced by the Cobra/TOW program. In March 1973 the first fully integrated Cobra/TOW prototype aircraft was flown, and the first TOW missile
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accuracy firings were made. Operational tests are scheduled for fiscal year 1974. The TOW thermal night sight continued in advanced development and will enter a 27-month engineering development phase during the coming year.
For the heavy lift helicopter (HLH) development program, the design of all advanced technology components was completed on schedule, within program costs, and without significant technical problems. The first full-scale blade and spar were fabricated, and a fly-by-wire flight control system tested. A 400-hour test program of the engine was completed by the contractor two and one-half months ahead of schedule, within costs, and met or surpassed all performance requirements. In midyear the HLH program was expanded to include the construction prototype which is scheduled for flight testing in August 1975. Major efforts on the prototype have been confined to detailed design of the fuselage, landing gear, crew station, and other items not provided for under the advanced technology component program. The engine development program, expanded to meet the needs of the proposed prototype, was mainly confined to the detailed design of subsystems and a power management system.
Airframe development contracts for the Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) were awarded to Boeing Vertol and Sikorsky Aircraft in August 1972. By the close of the fiscal year the contractors had completed design layouts, released detailed drawings, and subcontracted for long, lead time hardware. Wind tunnel testing, computer simulation Of aircraft handling qualities, and building of the static test model, ground test vehicle, and flyable prototypes had begun. Tests of the General Electric T700 engine, which will power the UTTAS, indicated that horsepower output did not meet specifications. Efforts to correct the deficiency, including the redesign of the power turbine, have been started. Congressional action reduced by 50 percent the number of flyable prototypes each contractor may build. As a result the Army expects to fall short of its reliability and maintainability goals for the UTTAS program.
Two joint Army-NASA development projects moved forward during the past year. Feasibility and predesign studies were completed for the Rotor Systems Research Aircraft (RSRA) and a request for proposal released to industry. Following an evaluation of contractor responses to a request for proposal for the Tilt Rotor Research Aircraft, two firms were selected to conduct detail design studies. After the designs were submitted and analyzed, one of the firms, Bell Helicopter, was selected to fabricate two prototypes for flight testing. Contract negotiations with Bell were under way at the close of the reporting period. Also, the joint
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NASA-Army Tilt Rotor Project Office was established at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.
In other helicopter development matters, detail design and fabrication of the advancing blade concept aircraft continued. The initial fifty-hour qualification run of the propulsion system was completed, and at year's end the aircraft was undergoing final preparation for its first flight, which is expected early in fiscal year 1974. Also, the new initiative aerial scout (NIAS) program, which had been progressing satisfactorily with prototype delivery scheduled for November 1973, was terminated in November 1972 when Congress disallowed the necessary funds to continue. A new program is being formulated that will provide an aerial scout vehicle capable of performing scout and target acquisition missions as the teammate of the advanced attack helicopter.
A number of advances during the year marked the continuing development of the Pershing surface-to-surface missile system. Developmental testing of missile and power station improvements, including a new static inverter, digital guidance, and a newly configured power station, was successfully concluded in June 1973. A two-year development and testing program was begun for two ground support equipment items—the Sequential Launch Adapter Switching Kit and the Automatic Azimuth Reference System. Also, tests conducted under the radar area correlation research and development program have demonstrated the feasibility of providing a highly accurate terminal homing capability for long-range surface-to-surface missiles such as the Pershing.
Development testing of the Improved Hawk air defense guided missile system was completed in August 1972, and conversion of Hawk air defense artillery battalions to the modification got under way two months later. The Improved Hawk, which utilizes an automic data processor to lower system reaction time, provides defense against slow- and high-speed and low- and medium-altitude targets.
As the replacement for the Improved Hawk and Nike-Hercules systems, SAM-D completed its first year of full-scale development. System demonstration tests of the SAM-D program, which is on schedule and within programed costs, are scheduled to begin in May 1974. During the year the Chief of Staff approved recommendations contained in a SAM-D capability study that called for the deletion of research and development and procurement funds for the nuclear warhead, the start of research and development for an improved nonnuclear warhead, and the use of SAM-D within the continental United States.
In other missile system actions, product improvement programs for both the Chaparral and Vulcan continued, the Shillelagh product improvement program was completed, and engineering development of the Stinger man-portable air defense system proceeded according to sched-
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ule. Also, development testing of the nuclear capability of the Lance surface-to-surface missile system was concluded, and shipment of equipment to the first tactical Lance battalion was begun in June 1973. Testing of the nonnuclear Lance warhead was reinstituted in December 1972, with development scheduled for completion in the first quarter of fiscal year 1975.
The XM 1 tank program, successor to the terminated XM803 (MBT70) tank development program, moved forward during the past year with the beginning of a 34-month prototype validation phase, for which Chrysler and General Motors received cost-plus-incentive-fee contracts totaling $155.1 million.
Progress was also noted in the mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV) program and the armored reconnaissance scout vehicle (ARSV) project. Four operational seminars conducted on the MICV gave design engineers an understanding of how the vehicle will be used and maintained in the field and allowed logisticians the opportunity to influence vehicle design early in the development phase. A number of trade-offs in vehicle performance and characteristics were made to simplify and reduce production costs. Also, testing of major subsystem components was begun. The year's major development regarding the ARSV was the assembly of prototype vehicles by the Lockheed and the Food Machinery Corporations.
An exploratory development prototype of a launcher designed to fit the M16 rifle and fire a soft, nonlethal ring airfoil projectile was successfully demonstrated during the past year. The launcher and projectile system will enter engineering development during fiscal year 1974. Availability of such a weapon would be useful in situations calling for less than lethal force, such as civil disturbances. As an intermediate between rifle fire and riot batons, it could be expected to deter rioters with its stinging effect.
In general combat support, development was completed on a number of items, including the Lightweight Camouflage Screening System, Woodland Version, a dry membrane which appears to be a major breakthrough in the development of a reverse osmosis water purification process, and a cradle for carrying the bridge erection boat on the ribbon bridge transporter. Assembly of a prototype reverse osmosis water purification set was completed and preliminary testing initiated, and work continued on the competitive contracts for validation prototype models of the Family of Military Engineer Construction Equipment (FAMECE). For a new bridge erection boat, five proposals were submitted by American and European firms, but none offered significant advantages over the current model.
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A number of actions were taken during the year dealing with scatterable mines. The XM56 helicopter-delivered antitank mine system went into developmental and operational testing, the XM718 artillery-delivered antitank mine system entered the engineering development phase, and advanced development of a scatterable mine surface dispensing system continued. Conversion of the standard M15 antitank mine to an underwater mine was canceled, as was the requirement for an artillery-delivered antipersonnel mine with a random time self-destruct feature. A joint Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps plan for the development of aircraft-delivered scatterable mines (target-activated munitions) was prepared and submitted to higher authority late in the fiscal year.
Development work on mine neutralization included feasibility testing of a new ground-to-ground antimine system, evaluation of testing for a helicopter-delivered antimine system to determine its military potential, and engineer design tests of the mine-clearing plow, which will be mounted on the M60 tank. Also, the use of dogs to detect explosive substance by smell was evaluated, thermal-imaging mine detectors were evaluated and improved, development of a vehicle-mounted road mine detector continued, and field testing was conducted on a man-portable radar radiation surface mine and booby trap detector. Work continued on the Countermine Systems Study, the objectives of which are to determine the mix of equipment and techniques to provide the soldier with the best available countermine capability.
For individual combat protective clothing and equipment, type classification was completed on a number of items, including the combat vehicle crewman helmet, lightweight individual combat clothing and equipment, and the aircrewman cold weather clothing system. A new chin strap was developed for use with the M 1 helmet, and contracts were awarded for the development of four prototype models of an improved suspension system for the M 1 helmet with liner. An improved, lightweight conventional munitions vest was developed and will undergo feasibility and product improvement testing in fiscal year 1974.
In other development activities during the year, the evaluations of the Vehicle Rapid Fire System (Bushmaster) prototypes developed by three competing firms, which were noted in last year's report, were completed in June 1973; development was completed on the Batch Interface Detector, the 50,000-gallon petroleum-fabric-collapsible tank, and the Forward Area Refueling Equipment System (FARES) ; contracts were awarded to procure hardware for the Tactical Multi-Leg Mooring System; and development was terminated on the Supply Handling Conveyor System. Also, the scheduled type classification of the XM509 eight-inch dual-purpose projectile has been delayed, and the XM710 105-mm. ROOK projectile and the XM587/XM724 continued in engineering development.
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Advanced Ballistic Missile Defense
The United States and the Soviet Union concluded the first phase of Strategic Arms Limitations Agreements, including an Antiballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, in May of 1972. The agreements limited significantly the deployment of certain offensive and defensive strategic weapons systems and permitted modernization of advanced ABM systems, but they placed only minor restrictions on ballistic missile defense research and development. The agreements therefore had little actual impact on the Army's ABM development program.
During fiscal year 1973, the Army broadened its technological base to support the development of a high-velocity, advanced ABM capable of intercepting an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the exoatmosphere. The FAIR 11 flight test program was started to obtain target and background signature data, study was done on the feasibility of developing nuclear-hardened homing sensors capable of functioning in the outer reaches of the atmosphere, and the possibility of nonnuclear exoatmospheric intercept was investigated.
Live testing of designation and discrimination algorithms against re-entering objects continued at the Kiernan Reentry Measurements Site, Kwajalein Missile Range. Detailed designs were completed for a 5,000-element solid state phased array radar, and a contractor was selected to construct the radar at Kwajalein Missile Range. The new radar will validate the use of solid state, modular technology in future ballistic missile defense radars and will provide a unique range research instrument for the development and testing of new discrimination techniques. The preliminary version of a System Environment and Threat Simulator (SETS) that tests battle scenarios, which include re-entry vehicles, decoys, radar clutter, nuclear effects, and the engagement of interceptors, was completed and installed on the Combat Developments Command's 7600 computer at the Advanced Ballistic Missile Defense Agency Research Center, Huntsville, Alabama. Plans have been completed to "game" SETS against system software on a fourth-generation vector computer to measure the interaction of data processing hardware and software against postulated threats.
Other development efforts during the year included construction of a laboratory model of a new dome radar antenna that will provide hemispheric coverage from a single planar array antenna face, initiation of a program to use high-power lasers as ballistic missile defense radars, and completion of four successful Minuteman Special Target program flights that provided new data for the development and validation of advanced re-entry discrimination techniques. Also, a Technology Application Panel composed of experts from both government and industry was formed to
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identify new ballistic missile defense concepts and technology. The panel canvassed numerous laboratories and uncovered several promising ideas that are currently under evaluation.
International Research and Development
During the past year, the United States entered into an agreement with the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands to conduct joint tests on the efficiency of Hawk missile site camouflage. Also, discussions were begun with the United Kingdom regarding the possible use by the British of a unique artillery projectile developed by the United States.
The joint U.S.-Italian research effort on high-strength, ductile aluminum alloys and related casting methods has yielded several important dividends. These include a new final thermal mechanical treatment process for wrought, high-strength aluminum alloys that will increase their strength by 20 to 25 percent over conventional heat treatments without a significant loss of ductility, and an intermediate thermal mechanical treatment process that will produce wrought aluminum alloys with a much finer grain size than commercially produced aluminum alloys of equivalent strength, and from 3 to 35 percent better ductility.
In other international research and development matters, the Army finished its evaluation of the British Rapier and the French-German Roland II low-altitude air defense systems, thus completing a series of evaluations that had been initiated earlier with the French Crotale system. TEAL XVII, the annual American, British, Canadian, and Australian (ABCA) armies conference on standardization, was held during 14-18 May 1973 at the Royal Military College of Australia. Also, in December 1972, the Office of the Chief of Research and Development took over the international standardization functions previously performed by the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development.
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Last updated 9 August 2004 |