Affordability through commonality: Army and Navy programs coordinate acquisition of improved and affordable guided munitions - Acquisition of Guided Projectiles

Program Manager, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Capt. Herb Hause, Chris Grassano

The Army and Navy have literally joined forces to develop a common approach for improved fire support capability through cooperative acquisition, development, and testing of guided munitions for both Army artillery and Naval gunfire. Affordability through commonality is the banner, and the desired end-state is more affordable and capable guided munitions for the warfighter.

Commonality Initiative Formalized

While the early groundwork for this dual-Service effort was started in 1997, it really got off the ground in 1999 when a commonality initiative was formalized with a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Department of the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command-Armament, Research, Development and Engineering Center (TACOM-ARDEC) Fire Support Armaments Center (FSAC); the Program Manager for Artillery Munition Systems (PMARMS); the Navy's Program Manager for Naval Surface Fire Support (PMS529); and the Office of Naval Research.

The intent of the original MOA was to establish a framework for developing guidance and navigation technology for the Navy's Extended Range Guided Munition (ERGM/EX-171) and the Army's Excalibur (XM-982). A second key objective was to mitigate lethality, reliability, and safety issues related to the M80 Grenade Submunition and incorporate these improvements into ERGM and Excalibur as appropriate. Subsequently, submunition efforts were put on hold since both programs shifted to a unitary payload.

In March 2000, a follow-on MOA was signed by the Army's Program Executive Officer for Ground Combat and Support Systems, Maj. Gen. John Michitsch (presently managed by PEO Ammunition Brig. Gen. Paul Izzo), and the Navy's Program Executive Officer for Surface Strike, Rear Adm. Charles Hamilton. This MOA commissioned three tiers of cooperative management effort including:

* A flag-level Executive Steering Committee (ESC), which includes Army, Navy, and Strategic and Tactical Systems, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics).

* An 0-6 level Coordinating Integrated Product Team (CIPT), which includes both Services and Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) staff.

* Four Working Integrated Product Teams (WIPTs), which include management, technical, and warfighter representatives.

The four WIPTs are Requirements, Guidance/Navigation and Control (GNC), Lethality and Payload, and Business Case. These cross-Service WIPTs pursue initiatives including research and development, competition and procurement strategies, and hardware/software/component and procedural commonality, with a goal of more affordable guided munitions.

The CIPT performs an oversight role for the WIPTs and reports status and issues to the ESC at least semi-annually Upon execution of the March 2000 MOA, the CIPT immediately employed the OSD-staffed Tri-Service Software Evaluation Team to review software risk and reuse potential for Excalibur and ERGM. The CIPT tasked the WIPTs to conduct feasibility and cost-benefit analysis on the potential for common subsystems and all major components.

From this, a payoff vs. ease of implementation matrix was created that has guided future efforts for the WIPTs. The CIPT also established an ERGM/Excalibur Joint Risk Management Board, which strives to establish hardware/software/procedural commonality as feasible and jointly identifies and mitigates common risks.

The Four WIPTs

The efforts of the four WIPTs are summarized in the following discussion.

REQUIREMENTS WIPT

The Requirements WIPT reviews operational requirements and projectile specifications, explores interoperability and interface requirements, and provides input to other WIPTs. This WIPT developed a Common Target Set to eliminate duplicate testing, and allows cross-Service use of test results. ERGM and Excalibur Operational Requirements Documents (ORD) were reviewed to identify areas of standardization, and this study has led to a standard approach to evaluate and document Target Location Error (TLE). The team is also reviewing ERGM and Excalibur security requirements in order to propose and implement a standard Security Classification Guide.

GUIDANCE/NAVIGATION AND CONTROL WIPT

The Guidance/Navigation and Control WIPT facilitated extensive re-use of ERGM flight software that has resulted in a significant cost avoidance for Excalibur. It also monitors the development of the Navy's Low Cost Guided Electronics Unit (LCGEU) program, which has potential to meet guidance requirements for both ERGM and Excalibur in the future. Additionally, this WIPT pursues Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Measuring Unit (IMU), and anti-jam challenges and proposes common solutions. The team has also drafted common interfaces' specifications to allow interoperability of subsystems and components.

LETHALITY AND PAYLOAD WIPT

The Lethality and Payload WIPT developed a standardized explosive recommendation process to promote the use of common energetic materials for Army and Navy gun-fired munitions. This process recently facilitated the decision to use a common energetic fill for both the ERGM and Excalibur unitary warheads, which will lead to significant cost savings during production. Other cooperative efforts include: