Target Assessment Technologies

Abstract

For some Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) targets and hard and deeply buried targets (HDBTs), physical destruction may not be possible, practical, or desirable with current conventional weapons and employment techniques. It may be possible or preferable, to achieve operational objectives by denying or disrupting the mission or function of the target facility. Functional defeat, however, requires extensive and highly detailed analysis of the target. The functional defeat process includes finding and identifying a facility, characterizing its function and physical layout, determining its vulnerabilities to available defeat mechanisms, planning and executing an attack, assessing damage, and if necessary, suppressing reconstitution efforts and re-attacking the facility. Target Assessment Technologies develops for the Combatant Commands (COCOMs) and the Intelligence Community (IC) the analytical tools and process required to find and characterize WMD targets and HDBTs and then, in near-real-time, assessing the results of attacks against those targets. Overall objectives are to develop new methodologies, processes and technologies for detecting, locating, identifying, physically and functionally characterizing, modeling, and assessing new and existing hard and deeply buried targets to support physical or functional defeat. Applying these processes to WMD time-dependent target characterization and threat analysis present a further technical challenge. The Target Assessment Technologies project is meeting this challenge through three subordinate and related activities: (1) Targeting and Intelligence Community Technology Development; (2) Find, Characterize, Assess Technology Development; and (3) Counter-WMD Analysis Cell (C-WAC) Technology Development. Program RT supports the National Strategy for Countering Biological Threat priority/focus area 3) Capability Expansion and 4) Leveraging Science. The Counter WMD Analysis Cell (C-WAC) technology development program has cooperative Research and Development projects with the United Kingdom and Commonwealth nations. The C-WAC is developing information sharing means with Commonwealth nations. The C-WAC project is also developing the Bio Dual-Use Support Tool as an aid in discriminating the employment of dual use technologies in the disguised development of bio warfare capabilities. The decrease from FY 2012 to FY 2013 is predominately due to decreased investment in Counter-WMD Analysis Cell collaboration with the National Counterproliferation Center (NCPC) and the Intelligence Community. The decrease from FY 2013 to FY 2014 is predominately due to decreased investment in development of tools for the analysis of chemical weapons threats, decreased investment in the development and integration of sensor systems for target characterization and assessment, and the realignment of test bed facilities to RR-Test Infrastructure in PE 0602718BR to better reflect the nature of those activities.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2014
• Source ID: RT_0603160BR_3_0400_PB_2014

Tags

Readers

• Critical Infrastructure Protection in CBRN and WMD Threats.
• Defense Technology Research and Development.
• Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.