Live Fire Test and Evaluation (LFT&E)

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). 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 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 lethality 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 Life Cycle Management 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. 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, Odyssey Dawn and Inherent Resolve) 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, JASP and JTCG/ME programs.

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2017
Source ID
0605131OTE_6_0460_PB_2017
Change Summary Explanation
Inflation/Economic Adjustment of -$0.727 in FY 2017
Service Agency Name
Operational Test and Evaluation, Defense

Entities

Organizations

  • Operational Test and Evaluation Force

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Cyber
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Blast
  • Collateral Damage
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Damage Assessment
  • Department Of Defense
  • Electronic Countermeasures
  • Graphical User Interface
  • Infrared Countermeasures
  • Military Aircraft
  • Precision-Guided Munitions
  • Reliability
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Methods
  • Warfare
  • Weapon Systems
  • Weapons Effects

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Munitions and Ordnance Engineering

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