Defense Acquisition: U.S.-German Examinations of the MLRS Terminal Guidance Warhead Program

Abstract

The program is a multinational cooperative development effort begun under a 1983 Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. It is to develop a target-sensing submunition and warhead for attacking armored targets at distances up to 30 kilometers or more. The United States is funding about 40 percent of the development, while the other three partners are funding about 20 percent each. The MLRS TGW is currently in the system demonstration substage of development. At the end of the system demonstration substage - currently scheduled for October 1992-the system will have been in development for about 8 years and will have cost a total of about $660 million (U.S. share - $300 million; European share - approximately $360 million). In accordance with congressional direction, MLRS TGW wits also one of three competing U.S. target-sensing submunition development programs being reviewed by the Department of Defense for selection of a single option by March 1991. In March 1991, the U.S. Army selected another system for full-scale development - the Brilliant Anti-armor Submunition, using acoustic and infrared sensor technologies - for use in the U.S. Army's preferred deep fires mission. The deep fires mission is typically done from considerably longer ranges than the MLRS rocket.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1991
Accession Number
AD1157120

Entities

People

  • Charles Arthur Bowsher
  • Heinz G. Zavelberg

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accounting
  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Ammunition
  • Armored Vehicles
  • Artillery
  • Artillery Ammunition
  • Cost Estimates
  • Department Of Defense
  • Economic Analysis
  • Millimeter Waves
  • Multiple Launch Rocket System
  • Procurement
  • Terminal Guidance
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States

Readers

  • Economics
  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • Missile Defense Systems.