Looking Back at 20 Years of MANPRINT on Patriot: Observations and Lessons
Abstract
During the combat operations phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Patriot air and missile defense units were involved in two fratricide incidents. Patriot's unacceptable fratricide rate during OIF (18% of engagements) prompted the commanding general of the Army Air and Missile Defense Center to request a human-performance-oriented assessment of the fratricide incidents to complement the official Army board if inquiry investigation. This report summarizes the results and recommendations from that assessment. Recommendations for a solution to the fratricide problem involved both command and control and training modifications. The paper s primary focus is MANPRINT observations and lessons from the Army s 25-year developmental effort with Patriot. Specific observations on the Patriot MANPRINT program gleaned from a review of assessments and test reports going back 20 years are presented and discussed. This material is followed by a discussion of broader lessons from the Patriot MANPRINT program. These broader lessons include: (1) going-in concepts really matter, (2) training issues really matter, (3) testing must be more comprehensive and rigorous, and (4) lessons must be learned. Implications of the specific observations and broader lessons for the MANPRINT program going forward also are presented and discussed. The observations and lessons discussed in the report are presented in the spirit of action research, defined as research that any community of practice can do to improve its methods. In this sense, the spirit of the report is institutional learning and practice improvement rather than after-the-fact criticism.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA472740
Entities
People
- John K. Hawley
Organizations
- United States Army Research Laboratory