What are the chances of surviving a hit or blast as a crewman in an armored vehicle? Some of the most important factors are distance, angle, velocity, armor thickness, and the type of munition used, but how does the U.S. Army test adversarial capabilities in a real-life environment? The Army Museum Enterprise (AME), a division of the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH), plays an integral role in making such tests possible.
Army museums are more than places for inspiration derived from Army heritage. First and foremost, they exist to support Soldier training at the entry, intermediate, and advanced levels. They also support vital research and development (R&D). 1However, R&D requires each curator, director, and Army leader to grapple with the issue of what should the Army keep to support R&D, and for how long?
The synergy cultivated between the AME and the R&D community recently proved its worth when the Historic Materiel Directorate, encompassing Museum Support Center-Ft. Belvoir (Virginia) and the Museum Support Center-Anniston (Alabama), provided functional adversarial weapons platforms to support testing conducted by the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) and Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).
NGIC provides scientific and technical intelligence and general military intelligence on foreign ground forces in support of the warfighting commanders, force and material developers,2 while ERDC provides science, technology, and expertise in engineering and environmental sciences.3 The results of scientific tests address significant considerations, including blast or impact forensics and blast measurements, which ultimately are used to enhance Soldier survivability.
Post blast forensic analysis accumulates impact signatures from various types of munitions, which provides commanders additional intelligence on the type of weapons systems employed against them. The blast measurements are gathered with sensors placed strategically throughout the vehicle. These sensors are designed to measure the pressure, linear accelerations, and angular rates in the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical x, y, and z axes experienced by the vehicle during the blast event. By using this collected data, a prediction can be made if a Soldier could sustain injuries. These baseline measurements are then used to inform follow-up test series involving anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), allowing for more detailed predictions of injuries. The final product of testing is the development of technologies designed specifically to mitigate predicted injuries and increase survivability. Post blast data is gathered after firing at distances of 50 and 200-250 meters, at various angles using High Explosive Anti-Tank, High Explosive Fragmentation, and thermobaric weapons, or aerosol or vacuum bombs—a type of explosive that uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. 4
To bolster the capability of the forensic team at NGIC, hand-picked experienced active-duty Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Soldiers serve along-side the civil engineers to provide advisory support for all phases of the testing.
The identification and technical inspections of functional weapons platforms by ERDC at Army and Marine Corps activities took well over a year before testing could begin. Indeed, the request and selection of specific platforms came to the AME at an opportune time during a comprehensive AME reform of its collections. The AME transferred SPG-9 recoilless rifles or guns to ERDC for use on the range by NGIC. The 73-mm. SPG-9 Kopye recoilless gun is a tripod-mounted and man-portable. Developed in the 1960s by the Soviet Union, the gun fires fin-stabilized, rocket-assisted high explosive and high explosive antitank projectiles. The projectiles are launched from the gun by a small charge with an initial velocity between 250 and 400 meters per second. A series of offset-holes impart spin. After traveling an initial 20 meters (65.6 feet) from the launcher, a rocket motor ignites. The SPG-9 weighs 105 pounds and 131 pounds with the tripod. Normally transported by a vehicle, the crew of two carry the gun into position and deploy within about 60 seconds. The SPG-9 is well represented in service with armed forces and widely available to irregular forces and non-state actors or terrorists. While the SPG-9 requires more skill to fire than the 85-mm. RPG-7 rocket launcher, the excessive weight of the SPG-9 limits mobility and firing from the shoulder.5
On a previous live-fire test, CERDC determined that missing electrical firing components in the SPG-9 prevented firing. However, the AME staff at MSC-A located and deployed replacement components in a single day to enable test firing. The AME also transferred a bolt and bolt carrier for a .50 caliber M8C spotting rifle for a 106-mm. M40A1 recoilless rifle. The 106-mm. M40A1 recoilless rifle is a portable, crew-served recoilless rifle or antitank weapon. The rifle is breech-loaded and fires single-shot fixed ammunition primarily from a wheeled ground mount for direct fire. The M40 primarily saw action during the Vietnam War and was widely used during various subsequent conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, especially during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Iran received a number of M40A1 recoilless rifles to fight Iraq, which even today are deployed against U.S. Forces.6
Other examples of AME and R&D synergy include the Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC) program, the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA), and tank engine design developments from World War II until today which compare U.S. and foreign vehicles; fire control, range finders, ballistic computers, drone vehicles, and ammunition testing from .30 caliber to main tank guns.
While the interpretive side of U.S. Army heritage is the most visible function of the AME, important functions related to Soldier training and supporting research and development occur behind the scenes, which cement the relevance of the AME mission.
- Army Directive 2016-39 (Establishment of the Army Museum Enterprise) 1 Dec 2016.
- See https://www.inscom.army.mil/msc/ngic.aspx.
- See https://www.erdc.usace.army.mil.
- Author’s notes from Interviews with NGIC/ERDC personnel during live-fire testing, pages 1-4, 26-27 May 2021.
- See Richard D. Jones, ed., Jane’s Infantry Weapons 2009-2010, 35th Edition (United Kingdom: MPG Books, 2009), pg. 488.
- Richard D. Jones, ed., Jane’s Infantry Weapons 2009-2010, 35th ed. (United Kingdom: MPG Books, 2009), pgs. 510-511, and author’s unpublished notes from interviews with NGIC/ERDC personnel during live-fire testing, pgs 1-4, 26-27 May 2021.