ADAPTING EXPERIMENTATION AND TESTING
TEST FLIGHT
A small UAS flies over Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as more than 20 students from the Army, Navy and Air Force participate in the Joint C-sUAS University. Asymmetric warfare in the Middle East and large-scale combat operations in Europe have shown the effectiveness of small UAS. (Photo by Amber Osei, U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School)
that fuze in high volumes is considerable. Many hardware devel- opers for new platforms or weapon systems do not understand the industrial base considerations of introducing new ammunition— nor is it their responsibility to. It is JPEO A&A’s responsibility to identify the proper resources to automate and upgrade production lines, especially with rapidly developed and fielded munitions. For example, JPEO A&A has recently invested in increasing the manufacturing throughput of the liquid reserve battery, a criti- cal component that will be common across multiple proximity C-UAS munitions in the medium caliber portfolio.
Tere is an issue with capability developers and resource manag- ers viewing capability from a platform perspective. Tey believe capability resides predominantly with the platform and budget accordingly to strengthen their warfighting function. Te chal- lenge is the C-UAS threat is not unique to any one platform or weapon system. For medium caliber ammunition, it spans vari- ous portfolios, including maneuver, Soldier, aviation and air and missile defense. To better synchronize the development of new platforms with the development of new ammunition, capability developers and resource managers should ask themselves a few critical questions when allocating resources:
• If new ammunition is required, what existing and proven technology can be leveraged to reduce risk in ammuni- tion development?
• Does our budget request consider the appropriate resources and schedule to account for ammunition devel- opment and procurement?
• What ammunition industrial base considerations must we account for in the platform acquisition strategy?
CONCLUSION Focused investment in the ammunition industrial base is vital. It will reduce production lead times to get enhanced capability to the warfighter as quickly as possible and enable cost reduction through high-volume orders and economies of scale. Te Army cannot rely on expensive missiles for much longer to address the rapidly evolving small UAS threat. With the proper industrial base investments, medium caliber proximity-fuzed munitions can be a critical low-cost contributor to the inner-most layer of short-range air defense. Te European conflict has revealed the necessity to make heavy investments in domestic production of 155 mm artillery shells. Te same emphasis should be placed on the C-UAS ammunition industrial base immediately.
For more information, contact JPEO A&A Public Affairs at
eric.w.kowal.civ@
army.mil.
LT. COL. PAUL SANTAMARIA is the product manager for Medium Caliber Ammunition with the Project Manager for Maneuver Ammunition Systems, assigned to JPEO A&A at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. He holds an MBA in systems acquisition management from the Naval Postgraduate School and a B.S. in business administration from Loyola University Maryland.
MAJ. JAKE LAGUE is an assistant program manager for Medium Caliber Ammunition with Project Manager for Maneuver Ammunition Systems, assigned to JPEO A&A. He holds an MBA in engineering management from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a B.A. in criminal justice from the University of North Florida.
https://asc.ar my.mil
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