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The Armed Services
Committee of the U.S. Congress received today (Sept 21, 2006) a
series of briefings by representatives from the Office of the
Secretary of Defense and U.S. Army. The purpose of the hearings
was to provide the subcommittee of tactical air and land forces an
insight into the need, availability and requirements of active
protection systems with the current and future force.
Dr. Robert Buhrkuhl, Director, Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell,
Office of the Secretary of Defense briefed the committee about the
Full Spectrum Effects Platform (FSEP) known as "Project Sheriff".
After evaluating a number of potential systems, the Office of
Force Transformation estimated that the General Dynamics/RAFAEL
Trophy system could be fielded on one vehicle in the first half of
 2007. Army and OSD’s Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell recommended
against continued testing of Trophy because of technical and
collateral damage issues, and that the Central Command urgent
requirement could not be met until, at the earliest, the 2011
fielding of the active protection system being developed for the
Army’s Future Combat Systems Program. He alluded to the fact that
two of the key systems required for FSEP Spiral 1, the
Active Protection Systems
(APS) and Active Denial System (ADS), both millimeter-wave
emitting systems, originally scheduled for fielding by the first
half of 2007, were not mature enough.
Adequate Defense Against RPGs
Major General Jeff Sorenson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the
Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) told the committee
that the Army has been working on threat countermeasure systems
for the past 40 years. He argued that the army's heavy combat
systems continue to be effective against RPG attacks thanks to the
effectiveness of the force protection capabilities already
deployed. "To date, the Army has fielded to theater 950 sets of
Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles, 1097 sets of M113 Slat Armor Kits,
and two brigades of Stryker Slat Armor Kits. The first sets of
Stryker Reactive Armor Tiles will be available for fielding in
October 2006 and the first sets of Abrams Reactive Armor Tiles
will be available for fielding to theater in June 2007. As
evidenced by the low casualty rate of Soldiers using our combat
systems, General Sorenson claimed only 10 of the 148 killed in
action since 2003 by
RPG attacks could have been avoided, if
active protection systems were deployed. According to General
Sorenson, the Trophy system, which starred in media coverage, is
merely an engineering development model, and is not yet mature for
deployment. Even if such system was deployed it could be used only
with the heavily armored vehicles, such as Abrams, Bradley and
Stryker.
Survivability – A Long Term Approach
General Sorenson explained the Army's assessment of the future
threat and the role of a holistic future full spectrum protection
approach towards survivability. The Army is leveraging the network
for improved situational awareness, reducing signature management,
improving ballistic protection, modifying operational tactics, and
pursuing hit avoidance. APS is considered as a central element of
hit avoidance, comprising technologies that enable defeat of the
threat prior to its impact with the vehicle. "The hit avoidance
requirement for our future force is a 360-degree hemispherical
“bubble” of protection to our combat platforms." explains General
Sorenson.
APS development efforts of the Science and Technology community,
Ground Combat Systems program office, and FCS Brigade Combat Team
(BCT) program are tightly aligned to ensure that the Army will
have near-term close-in active protection for the current force,
(Abrams, Bradley, and Stryker) while pursuing full-spectrum
survivability and hit avoidance capabilities for the future family
of manned ground vehicles as part of the Future Combat systems (FCS)
program. Currently, the FCS program is developing a full-spectrum
solution to counter short- and long-range threats, which include a
wide range of ballistic projectiles: RPGs, mortars, antitank
guided missiles, tank-KE/HEAT, top attack/precision guided
missiles, and large caliber cannon.
Operational Aspects
Collateral damage against Soldiers and non-combatants is a major,
especially when forces are deployed in confined urban
environments. The tactics, techniques, and procedures to safely
and effectively employ of APS are yet to be developed. For
example, rules of engagement always provide for self defense.
However, those same rules of engagement direct forces to limit or
prevent noncombatant casualties and injuries. Employment of an APS
system creates a challenge to solve these two fundamental rules
simultaneously. "We are seeking answers to questions of use of APS
systems in urban settings with civilian crowds. We are considering
the implications of employing dismounted soldiers around or near
vehicles with an APS to prevent fratricide." General Sorenson told
the Committee.
APS Systems Availability
"The number of systems that are suitable, reliable, safe and able
to be integrated in the near future into our current combat
systems is a very small subset of the worldwide APS development
continuum." Says General Sorenson. There are roughly 20 U.S. and
foreign-based active protection systems under various stages of
development, differing from each other in terms of concept of
operation and the resulting collateral damage geometry. Each
system must be addressed with its unique space, weight and power
for vehicle integration. Additionally, each system has a unique
collateral damage geometry that must be minimized in order to
ensure the safety of our Soldiers, non combatants and the system.
One of these systems is the Quick Kill, developed by Raytheon and
selected by the FCS integrator to provide a future solution for
the FCS program. "Quick Kill, with its vertical launch and fire
control capabilities, is best suited to support current force
active protection ground combat system requirements and
concurrently support the Future Combat Systems hit avoidance suite
and full spectrum survivability requirements." Said General
Sorenson. The system provides 360-degree all-aspect protection,
from multiple simultaneous threats. To date, the Quick Kill system
has demonstrated successful warhead, compound maneuver, radar
integration and RPG intercept tests using an advanced detection
and tracking capability that incorporates precision fire-control
algorithms and vertical launch interception. Currently the Army
plans to provide prototypes and conduct a Limited User Test in
2010. |
