U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground hosts Javelin missile operational test

Photo By Lance Cpl. Katherine Cottingham | First fielded in 1996, improvements to the self-guided FGM-148 Javelin missile recently underwent operational testing at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground. The updated Javelin is lighter, smaller, and boasts better target-acquiring optics than the legacy version.  

YUMA PROVING GROUND, AZ, UNITED STATES

08.31.2023

Story by Mark Schauer 

U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground

From tanks and armored vehicles in the invasion of Iraq to fortified insurgent bunkers in Afghanistan, American adversaries have felt the deadly power of the FGM-148 Javelin missile for more than two decades.

First fielded in 1996, the self-guided Javelin projectile allows Soldiers to seek cover as soon as they have fired it.

Further, the missile can be fired in two modes: direct attack or top attack, the latter of which not only takes advantage of a tank’s sparser armor on top, but can be handy against elevated positions in high mountains.

The system has proven itself time and again, and U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) recently hosted large operational tests of an upgraded version, at Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC) earlier this year, and at Yuma Test Center (YTC) this summer. The updated Javelin is lighter, smaller, and boasts better target-acquiring optics than the legacy version.

Though the proving ground and its constituent test centers are primarily involved in developmental testing of equipment, the personnel’s past excellence in supporting Javelin evaluations led to the return for operational testing.

“Javelin came to us originally because they were doing captive carry testing: We took the missile and put it on a UH-60, and did captive carry flights where we essentially pretended the helicopter was the missile itself and captured guidance data on it,” said Steven Norquist, a YPG aviation test officer. “YPG did a really good job, and we stayed in contact with the project manager: When this this test came up, they came back to us and asked if we were able to support them.”

The operational testing involved scores of Soldiers and additional support personnel from the U.S. Army Operational Test Command performing mock combat scenarios to utilize the Javelin as they would if deployed to a combat zone.

“Developmental testing will usually have a very rigid, set schedule versus this, which has 48- and 72-hour operations in which Soldiers will be down range in the field and all the equipment has to stay with them so it is exposed to the operational conditions,” said Norquist. “They did a variety of different missions: defending a location, a movement to seize key terrain and then observe ‘enemy’ vehicles moving around, and engage targets at various ranges to test how the systems work in an operational environment.”

Some of the scenarios were particularly grueling: in one, the Soldiers simulated operating in a toxic environment, and had to don Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) gear while engaging the mock adversary. Among other things, testers wanted the Soldiers to evaluate how well they could utilize the Javelin while wearing heavy MOPP gloves and face masks.

“Soldier feedback is vital,” said Bill Rabena, Operations Research and Systems Analyst for the test. “We want them to treat it like they would in the field, not with kid gloves, so we can really find out how durable it is.”

YPG’s vast range space, more than 1,200 square miles, was also attractive to the testers.

“You don’t want to show the same area the whole time, so we’re able to bounce back and forth between different sites for the force-on-force scenarios,” said Rabena.

Though live fire of the systems only occurred on the last event of the testing schedule, evaluators used a laser system to detect hits achieved by inert Javelin trainers throughout the scenarios. YPG vehicle operators drove the realistic target vehicles in multiple work shifts across the weeks the testing took place. Placing the threat targets in advance of the live fire took careful work from a variety of YPG support elements, from the Ammunition Recovery group that ensured the paths to the target emplacement sites were cleared of all unexploded ordnance to the Threat Target Systems section who removed the engines and other potentially hazardous materials from the tanks prior to their being towed into place across rugged, roadless terrain by YPG’s motor pool.

“YPG has been phenomenal,” said Perry Jones, Operational Test Command Test Officer. “The personnel have most definitely given us all of the support we needed, from our first site visit forward, from ranges to facilities and support personnel. YPG has the area we need to execute the testing and the extreme temperatures we were looking for to really stress the systems.”

• Date Taken: 08.31.2023
• Date Posted: 08.31.2023 15:14
• Story ID: 452376
• Location: YUMA PROVING GROUND, AZ, US