Live Fire Test and Evaluation
Abstract
This Program Element consists of three programs: Live Fire Test and Evaluation, Joint Aircraft Survivability Program (JASP) and Joint Technical Coordinating Group for Munitions Effectiveness (JTCG/ME). Starting in FY 2013 the JASP and JTCG/ME programs are realigned from the Operational Test Activities and Analyses program (0605814OTE) to the Live Fire Test and Evaluation program element (0605131OTE). The JASP and JTCG/ME programs focus on the survivability of currently fielded systems; therefore, the two programs are more appropriately funded within the Live Fire Test and Evaluation program element. This Program Element directly supports the Congressional statutory requirements for oversight of Live Fire Test and Evaluation (LFT&E). The primary objective of LFT&E is to assure that the vulnerability and survivability of Department of Defense (DoD) crew-carrying platforms and the lethality of our conventional munitions are known and acceptable before entering full-rate production. LFT&E encompasses realistic tests involving actual United States (U.S.) and foreign threat hardware or, if not available, acceptable surrogate threat hardware. The objective is to identify and correct design deficiencies early in the development process. A completed LFT&E program and test report is required before programs proceed beyond low-rate initial production (BLRIP). LFT&E also includes realistic modeling and simulation (M&S) to examine survivability and lethality attributes not assessed during testing. This Program Element also supports DoD’s Joint Live Fire (JLF) Program and other LFT&E related initiatives. JLF was begun in 1984 under an Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) charter to test fielded front-line combat aircraft and armor systems for their vulnerabilities as well as fielded weapons, both U.S. and foreign, for their lethalities against their respective targets. Funds are also used to support other initiatives related to quick reaction requests from theater and other areas of personnel survivability. The Joint Aircraft Survivability Program is the DoD’s focal point for joint service enhancement of military aircraft non-nuclear survivability. The JASP is chartered by the commanders of the USN Naval Air Systems Command, USA Aviation and Missile Command and USAF Aeronautical Systems Center to coordinate and conduct RDT&E to improve military aircraft survivability, develop and standardize aircraft survivability modeling and simulation (M&S), facilitate information exchange on aircraft survivability and support aircraft survivability education for the DoD and U.S. aircraft community. Each chartering command provides a senior aircraft survivability expert for the JASP Principal Members Steering Group (PMSG), which guides the program and approves projects for funding. The JASP assesses and reports on combat damage incidents through the Joint Combat Assessment Team (JCAT), is the Executive Agent for the Joint Live Fire Aircraft Systems Program managed by the Live Fire Test office of DOT&E and is also an Executive Agent for the Survivability Vulnerability Information Analysis Center (SURVIAC), the repository for aircraft survivability information. The Joint Logistics Commanders Joint Technical Coordinating Group for Munitions Effectiveness (JTCG/ME) was chartered more than 40 years ago to serve as DoD’s focal point for munitions effectiveness information. This has taken the form of widely used Joint Munitions Effectiveness Manuals (JMEMs) which address all major non-nuclear U.S. weapons. JTCG/ME authenticates weapons effectiveness data for use in training, systems acquisition, weapon procurement, and combat modeling and simulation. JMEMs are used by the Armed Forces of the U.S., NATO, and other allies to plan operational missions, support training and tactics development, and support force-level analyses. JTCG/ME also develops and standardizes methodologies for evaluation of munitions effectiveness and maintains databases for target vulnerability, munitions lethality, and weapon system accuracy. The JMEM requirements and development processes continues to be driven by operational lessons learned (Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Odyssey Dawn) and the needs of Combatant Commands, Services, Military Targeting Committee, and Operational Users Working Groups input for specific weapon-target pairings and methodologies. This program element also includes funds to obtain Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) expertise in performing analyses in support of described Live Fire Test and Evaluation tasks, as well as travel funds to carry out the LFT&E programs. This program element is budgeted in Budget Activity 6, RDT&E Management Support, to support LFT&E management activities for the oversight of RDT&E of new systems, as well as RDT&E of fielded systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- R2 Budgetary Justification
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2013
- Source ID
- 0605131OTE_6_0460_PB_2013
- Change Summary Explanation
- Starting in FY 2013 the increase in funding is the result of the realignment of the JASP and JTCG/ME programs from the Operational Test Activities and Analyses program (0605814OTE) to the Live Fire Test and Evaluation program (0605131OTE).
- Service Agency Name
- Operational Test and Evaluation, Defense
Entities
Organizations
- Operational Test and Evaluation Force
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