Some Recent Sensor-Related Army 

Critical Technology Events 

James A. Ratches, Richard Chait, and John W. Lyons 

Center for Technology and National Security Policy 

National Defense University 

February 2013 
ii 

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy 

or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. 

Government. All information and sources for this paper were drawn from unclassified materials. 

James Ratches is a Senior Research Fellow in the Center for Technology and National Security 

Policy (CTNSP) at the National Defense University, and on the staff of the Army Research 

Laboratory’s Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate. He was previously Chief Scientist at the 

Army’s Night Vision and Electronic Devices Directorate. Dr. Ratches received his Ph.D. in 

physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a B.S. degree from Trinity College. 

Richard Chait recently retired as a Distinguished Research Fellow in CTNSP. He was 

previously Chief Scientist at the Army Materiel Command, and Director of Army Research and 

Laboratory Management. Dr. Chait received his Ph.D. in solid state science from Syracuse 

University and a B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

John W. Lyons is a Distinguished Research Fellow in CTNSP. He was previously Director of 

the Army Research Laboratory and Director of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology. Dr. Lyons received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Washington University at 

St. Louis and his B.A. from Harvard University. 

Acknowledgements. The authors wish to acknowledge the support of Dr. Mary Miller, the 

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, Dr. Marilyn 

Freeman, formerly the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, 

and Dr. Linton Wells, Director of CTNSP.
iii 

Contents 

I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1

II. Additional Background ........................................................................................................... 2

Project Hindsight........................................................................................................................ 2

Approach..................................................................................................................................... 2

III. Sensor Related Critical Technology Events (CTEs) for Enhanced Warfighting 

Capabilities .................................................................................................................................... 4

Selected Projects ......................................................................................................................... 4

Detailed Discussion of Sensor-Oriented CTEs........................................................................... 5

a. GPS-Guided Munitions....................................................................................................... 5

b. Constant Hawk.................................................................................................................... 9

c. Unattended Transient Acoustic/Artillery MASINT System (UTAMS) ........................... 12

d. Thermal Imaging............................................................................................................... 13

e. 5V Li-Ion Batteries ........................................................................................................... 17

IV. Databases, Modeling, and Simulations............................................................................... 19

a. GPS-Guided Munitions......................................................................................................... 19

b. Constant Hawk...................................................................................................................... 19

c. UTAMS................................................................................................................................. 19

d. Thermal Imaging................................................................................................................... 20

e. 5V Li-ion Batteries................................................................................................................ 21

V. Findings, Discussion and Concluding Remarks.................................................................. 23

Findings..................................................................................................................................... 23

Discussion................................................................................................................................. 23

Concluding Remarks................................................................................................................. 25

Appendix A. Acronyms .............................................................................................................. 27

Appendix B. CTE Sources.......................................................................................................... 31

Appendix C. Individuals Contacted .......................................................................................... 33

Appendix D. Project Hindsight................................................................................................... 34
1 

0BI. INTRODUCTION 

Project HindsightF

1

F was a 1969 U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) report that was an in-depth 

study sponsored by the Director of Defense Research & Engineering (DDR&E) and provided 

insights into the development of approximately 20 weapons systems across the defense 

spectrum. Hindsight was used as a model for a series of papers, including this one, in the analysis 

of research projects in DOD. Since the publication of Hindsight, DOD has continued to pursue 

research and development (R&D) and develop weapon systems to address new military threats to 

the United States. The Army Science & Technology (S&T) Executive sponsored a series of three 

reports that provided a retrospective look at the development of four major Army weapons 

platforms since Hindsight: the Abrams tank,F

2

F the Apache helicopter,F

3

F and the Stinger and 

JavelinF

4

F missiles. These three Defense & Technology Papers were focused on the Critical 

Technology Events (CTEs) that occurred in U.S. Army, industry, and academic laboratories that 

enabled these weapons platforms to have the necessary capability to accomplish their assigned 

missions. CTEs are ideas, concepts, models, and analyses, including key technical and 

managerial decisions, which have had a major impact on the development of a specific weapons 

system. CTEs can occur at any point in the system’s life cycle, from basic research, to advanced 

development, to testing and evaluation, and to product improvements. CTEs can even relate to 

concepts that were developed but ultimately not incorporated into the weapons system. Also, 

CTEs can originate anywhere, from in-house laboratories, to private industry, and to academia. 

CTEs are not exactly the same as the Hindsight’s Research and Exploratory Development (RXD) 

Events. Unlike CTEs, RXD events have the predominant meaning of an event that “defines a 

scientific or engineering activity during a relatively brief time that includes the conception of a 

new idea and the initial demonstration of its feasibility.”F

5

F The purpose of this paper is to initiate 

a look at some current CTEs that are new or ongoing in the Army S&T community. 

Section II of this paper will begin by analyzing Project Hindsight, as well as the previous efforts 

on the Abrams, Apache, and Stinger and Javelin. Section III describes the CTEs for the programs 

selected for this paper, while Section IV describes the efforts in databases, models, and 

simulations that support the selected programs. The last section, Section V, provides a set of 

findings of this report, bids discussion on a variety of topics, and offers concluding remarks. 

 

1

 Office of the Director of Defense and Engineering, Project Hindsight: Final Report (Washington, DC: Department 

of Defense, 1969). 

2

 Richard Chait, John Lyons, and Duncan Long, Critical Technology Events in the Development of the Abrams 

Tank-Project Hindsight Revisited, Defense & Technology Paper 22 (Washington, DC: Center for Technology and 

National Security Policy, December 2005). 

3

 Richard Chait, John Lyons, and Duncan Long, Critical Technology Events in the Development of the Apache 

Helicopter-Project Hindsight Revisited, Defense & Technology Paper 26 (Washington, DC: Center for Technology 

and National Security Policy, February 2006). 

4

 John Lyons, Duncan Long, and Richard Chait, Critical Technology Events in the Development of the Stinger and 

Javelin Missile Systems-Project Hindsight Revisited, Defense & Technology Paper 33 (Washington, DC: Center for 

Technology and National Security Policy, July 2006). 

5

 Office of the Director of Defense and Engineering, Project Hindsight: Final Report (Washington, DC: Department 

of Defense, 1969), xiv. 
2 

1BII. ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND 

9BProject Hindsight 

This study is modeled in part on a 1969 report, Project Hindsight. In 1965, DOD DDR&E, Dr. 

Harold Brown, established a project to take a retrospective look at DOD investment in R&D, to 

evaluate the results, and to take stock of lessons learned. Brown’s overarching objectives for the 

study were to identify management factors that were associated with the utilization of the results 

produced by the DOD S&T program and to devise a methodology to measure the return on 

investment. He was motivated in part by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on 

Defense Appropriations, which had questioned the efficiency of management and overall payoff 

for the part of the Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation program that pertained to 

S&T.F

6

In addition to sharing a broad goal with the original Hindsight report, this paper also takes from 

it a similar unit of analysis, the CTE. Hindsight evaluations were based on a concept called an 

RXD Event. In that report, an RXD event has the predominant meaning of an event that “defines 

a scientific or engineering activity during a relatively brief period of time that includes the 

conception of a new idea and the initial demonstration of its feasibility.”F

7

F There may be one or 

two such events in the development of a component or system, or a whole string of such events. 

In the case of basic research RXD events, the report distinguishes between undirected (i.e., 

curiosity-driven) and directed (i.e., problem-driven) work. Lastly, the final fabrication of the 

system component or device “may or may not involve an Event depending on the state of the 

technological art at the time of fabrication.”F

8

F Please note that our signal events, CTEs, differ 

from Hindsight’s RXD events in that CTEs can occur at any point in the life cycle. We leave 

open the possibility that CTEs might result from efforts that have utilized funds other than R&D. 

For more background on the Project Hindsight, see Appendix D. 

The importance of the three previous Defense & Technology Papers is the documentation of the 

Army S&T laboratories’ contributions to the enabling of the weapons platforms. The CTEs noted 

in those reports influenced the Abrams main gun, including gun accuracy, penetrating rounds, 

armor and crew protection, engine and drive chain, command, control, communications, 

computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) and fire control; the Apache 

helicopter engine and transmission, as well as survivability and structural advances, avionics, fire 

control, weapons; and the Stinger and Javelin missiles seekers, guidance and control, and 

propulsion. For all these platforms, extensive modeling, simulations, and databasing were 

contributed to the platforms. 

10BApproach 

This report was generated based on interviews and correspondence with people closely 

associated with the R&D and program management. Since these selected topics are near-term 

achievements, it is still unknown what their ultimate significance and impact will be. We have 

 

6

 Secretary Brown’s letter in, Office of the Director of Defense and Engineering, Project Hindsight: Final Report

(Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 1969), 135. 

7

 Office of the Director of Defense and Engineering, Project Hindsight: Final Report (Washington, DC: Department 

of Defense, 1969), xiv. 

8

 Office of the Director of Defense and Engineering, Project Hindsight: Final Report (Washington, DC: Department 

of Defense, 1969), xiv. 
3 

chosen those contributory CTEs that appear to be the most probable success stories in the more 

distant future. We iteratively interviewed the participants of these programs and generated a final 

product. Even though the subject is near-term products, some have a rather lengthy past and are 

to some extent described. In appropriate cases, we had to contact technical people that were 

already retired, or otherwise had left government service. We attempted to contact all relevant 

contributors to these topics. Although we believe that each topic documented in the report is 

complete, we do suspect that there are other parts that we did not select or uncover. Follow-on 

reports will occur as necessary. 
4 

2BIII. SENSOR RELATED CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY EVENTS (CTE) FOR 

ENHANCED WARFIGHTING CAPABILITIES 

1BSelected Projects 

Five on-going projects within the Army S&T portfolio selected for inclusion in this report are the 

Global Positioning System (GPS)-guided munition, Excalibur; the persistent surveillance 

platform, Constant Hawk; Unattended Transient Acoustic/Artillery MASINT System (UTAMS); 

the thermal imaging night sight technology; and 5V Li-ion batteries for battlefield power 

sources. 

The U.S. military has fielded the Excalibur GPS-guided munitions (XM982) for 155mm artillery 

and was used in Operation Iraq Freedom and is currently in use in Operation Enduring Freedom. 

Unprecedented accuracy for cannon fired artillery projectiles has been realized due to a 

collaborative S&T effort between Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the Armaments 

Research and Development Center (ARDEC) in developing gun hardening GPS and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) Inertial Sensor Technology. This technology is not only 

used in the Excalibur, but is applied in the Army’s Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) for use on 

existing conventional projectiles and the Mortar Guidance Kit (MGK) for use on conventional 

mortars to provide guidance and improved accuracy. The approach has been implemented as 

“screw on” devices for the existing stockpile of artillery and mortar rounds. This innovative 

approach came out of a strong S&T effort in the Army tech base and has resulted in upgrading 

the existing stockpile of Army munitions. To initialize GPS-guided munitions, the target, 

platform location, and GPS-specific data are entered into the projectile’s mission computer 

through the Enhanced Portable Inductive Artillery Fuze Setter (M1155A1). Similar GPS-guided 

capabilities have been fielded by the U.S. Navy, such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition 

(JDAM); and the U.S. Air Force, such as the Guided Bomb Unit (GBU-36 and -37). Precision 

Urban Mortar Attack (PUMA) is a U.S. Marine GPS-guided or laser-designated munitions for 

81mm mortar. 

Constant Hawk is an airborne platform that addresses persistent surveillance over large fields of 

regard. In the conflicts that the U.S. Army is involved in today, it is critical to observe insurgent 

activities over large expanses of terrain in a persistent fashion to develop the Army’s techniques, 

tactics, and procedures. High urban clutter demands high resolution that confounds the large area 

coverage requirement. It was due to the involvement of the Army S&T community that the 

Constant Hawk forensic capability was demonstrated as the first deployed wide field of view 

(WFOV) persistent surveillance system.F

9

F Scientists from ARL identified how the large field of 

view imaging system could be used as a forensics system. ARL was lead system integrator for 

the first five deployed systems, as well as training the analysts and developing the concept of 

operations for employment of this novel system. Subsequently, the Night Vision & Electronic 

Sensor Directorate (NVESD) of the Communications and Electronics Research, Development 

and Engineering Center developed a night capability. 

UTAMS was developed as an acoustics sensor for force protection. Innovative Army S&T 

efforts applied the technology to the detection of rockets, artillery, mortars, and mine explosions 

over large expanses of terrain from sensor arrays of the ground. When deployed on an aerostat, 

 

9 Mr. William Ruff, Subject matter expert (SME) and project engineer, Army Research Laboratory, interviewed by 

authors, September 10, 2012. 
5 

the acoustic sensors could cover longer range due to higher signal-to-noise ratio when elevated. 

When integrated with an imager on an aerostat, it can cue the imager and get many image pixels 

on target for target verification and identification. 

Thermal imaging or infrared is a widely deployed technology for day/night operations. However, 

infrared imaging has inherently less resolution than visible systems and image intensifier (I2) 

systems, the other night capability technology, due to the physics of diffraction limitations. 

Additionally, sensitivity is always an issue when longer ranges under degraded battlefield 

environments are needed to support the mission. S&T investigations have continued to enhance 

thermal imaging technology and enable coverage of more military applications over more 

combat missions. This technology continues to be proliferated in the Army sensor inventory. 

R&D of the 5V Li-ion battery has the promise of making a significant impact on the amount and 

weight that a Soldier must carry on missions. This breakthrough will have its maximum impact, 

not just by transitioning to an Army program of record, but by transitioning to the commercial 

battery industry through licensing of the technology and an Army patent. This will result both in 

lightening a Soldier’s load and reducing the cost to the Army by leveraging commercial sales. 

12BDetailed Discussion of Sensor-Oriented CTEs 

As stated above, the scope of this report is on near-term, ongoing or recently transitioned 

capabilities that can be associated with CTEs in the Army laboratory tech base in collaboration 

with the industrial tech base and academia. They are not associated primarily with one platform. 

Although Constant Hawk is one platform, it is representative of a whole class of potential 

platforms and the battery work is an enabler for many sensors. Further, the focus will be on 

Army sensor S&T, and that is why the already mentioned topics have been chosen. 

21Ba. GPS-Guided Munitions 

The mission of the field artillery is to destroy, neutralize, or suppress the enemy by cannon, 

rocket, and missile fires and to help integrate all fire support assets into combined arms 

operations.F

10F Artillery and mortars are indirect fire weapons for effect and destruction. 

Historically, there has been no guidance mechanism for the munitions other than laying fire. The 

lack of accuracy for the individual rounds implies a large number of rounds need to be expended 

to hit and destroy the target(s) of interest. This has major logistics implications since many more 

rounds need to be carried by the force in order to do the damage on the enemy that is needed. In 

addition, the use of unguided artillery munitions is limited in urban areas due to the concern 

regarding collateral damage. Therefore, any increase in accuracy that enables hitting and 

destroying targets with fewer rounds is extremely important and enables field artillery 

commanders an expanded capability to engage targets in highly concentrated urban areas while 

diminishing the threat of collateral damage. 

Prior to GPS-guided munitions, such as Excalibur in the Army, there were smart submunitions 

such as Brilliant Anti-Tank (BAT), Sense and Destroy Armor (SADARM) and the semi-active 

laser guided Copperhead 155mm projectile. These were developed in the 1990s to increase 

accuracy by terminal guidance. BAT was delivered by the Army Tactical Missile System and 

had an acoustic sensor to detect tanks and an infrared (IR) terminal homing sensor. Intended for 

Multiple Launch Rocket System, SADARM is fired in a 155mm shell and parachutes into the 

 

10 Field Manual FM 6-50/MCWP 3-16.3, Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for the Field Artillery Cannon 

Battery (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, December 23, 1996), 1-1. 
6 

target with millimeter wave radar, passive millimeter wave radiometer, and an IR telescope 

sensor. It also has a magnetometer for aiming and arming. The M712 Copperhead was a laserguided projectile and was used in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. BAT 

and SADARM demonstrated higher target accuracy, but with increased cost, and SADARM 

could not meet its reliability requirement. Both projects were subsequently shut down. 

The major laboratories in the development of GPS systems were the Naval Research Laboratory 

(NRL) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), along with the Applied Physics 

Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University and some serendipitous research interest by some farthinking individual researchers, such as Rabi (molecular beam techniques), Townes (maser, the 

microwave forerunner of the laser), Ramsey (atomic clocks) and Getting (navigation systems at 

Aerospace).F

11F Even though the Army S&T did not play an important role here, the main point of 

this paper is reinforced in that major contributions and leadership were provided by Service 

laboratories. The demonstration and development of GPS navigation would not have been 

facilitated and focused without them. The role of Service laboratories S&T to act as initiators, 

visionaries, leaders, enablers, and team contributors must not be overlooked. 

Early testing by ARL and ARDEC with GPS-enhanced munitions looked at the value of 

knowing where a round landed when not on the target. This would create the critical mass for a 

variety of CTEs. A “screw on” GPS transponder was added to the munitions and continuous GPS 

location and the impact point were sent back to the launcher for launch adjustment (CTE1). In 

this way, the major error in forward observer target coordinates could be overcome. Moving 

targets could also be engaged by this innovation, as well as mine-laying operations.F

12

The first use of GPS technology in a cannon-launched system was the use of GPS translators 

(auto-registration), which take the signal from the satellites, convert it into coordinates for the 

position of the round, and transmit it to a ground station (CTE2). This provides registration of 

the position. The rotation of the round is addressed by using a conical antenna that surrounds the 

fuze such that it is always in view of the satellite and the ground station (CTE3). Some material 

research was needed for the antenna. A monopole antenna was first tried but it took too much 

space in the fuze. The GPS round replaced the need for the forward observer but it made no 

change in the standard operating procedures for the ground crew of the howitzer. The concept 

was to be able to retrofit fuzes on the existing stockpiles of artillery rounds, as opposed to having 

to manufacture new rounds (CTE4). Miniaturization of the electronics was evidently not very 

difficult and grew progressively easier. Test firing was conducted at Yuma Proving Grounds. 

Prior to the start of the Army’s Excalibur GPS-guided munitions development, ARL and 

ARDEC put together and led the Low Cost Competitive Munitions (LCCM) program. This 

program matured GPS and MEMS Inertial Sensor technology sufficiently for current Precision 

Guided Munitions, such as Excalibur, the only autonomous guided artillery projectile in the 

world. ARL was the first to demonstrate the feasibility of using GPS to track projectiles in flight. 

The GPS Auto-Registration fuze module translated GPS coordinates to the ground-based fire 

control unit in 1992 and this was the first demonstration of tracking in flight projectile 

trajectories using GPS technology (CTE5). 

 

11 Timothy Coffey, Jill Dahlburg, and Eli Zimet, The S&T Innovation Conundrum, Defense & Technology Paper 17 

(Washington, DC: Center for Technology and National Security Policy, August 2005). 

12 Dr. Gary Horley, former SME, ARL-HRED, interviewed with authors, July 25, 2012. 
7 

The three parts to the LCCM program were the following: 1) Auto-registration with a GPS 

transponder in the projectile to track in-flight projectile trajectories; 2) One Dimensional 

Corrector that had target information provided prior to firing. The projectile would be fired 

beyond target position and an on-board GPS receiver would determine the projectile trajectory 

and provide appropriate time for a drag-inducing trajectory control device to be employed 

resulting in a correction to the flight path and subsequent improvement in accuracy or circular 

error probability (CEP) (CTE6). This part of the program was executed jointly by the United 

Kingdom and ARDEC; 3) 2D Corrector that employed a GPS receiver and MEMS Inertial 

Sensor technology to measure and calculate in flight trajectories and deploy canards to provide a 

more robust correction resulting in CEPs of less than one-half of previous CEPs (CTE7).F

13F This 

effort was executed jointly with the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center Guns and Munitions 

Division. 

Following the successful deployment of the Excalibur projectile, which was fielded and used in 

combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems continued 

the development of these technologies and has fielded an MGK for Accelerated Mortar Initiative 

(APMI) and Precision Guidance Kit (PGK for 155mm conventional ammunition based on this 

technology. Excalibur APMI and PGK are currently being deployed in Afghanistan. 

There are cannon-launched, mortar, and missile GPS-guided munitions. The XM982 Excalibur is 

a 155mm, GPS-guided, fire-and-forget projectile, debuted May 2007 in Iraq and became the 

Army’s first all-weather precision guided artillery round. It debuted in Afghanistan February 

2008 as the Army’s next generation cannon artillery precision munitions.F

14F The gun launched 

Excalibur (M982 Block 1a-2) was type classified in 2010. It can be fired from the M102Ab 

Paladin and the M777A2 Howitzer. In Afghanistan, it demonstrated exceptional accuracy out to 

significant tactical ranges, had an extremely high success rate, and “brought artillery back into 

the close urban fight.”F

15F ARDEC received an Army’s Top 10 Greatest Inventions of the Year 

Award for 2007 for its development of Excalibur.F

16F 

As Excalibur was being fielded by Raytheon as the prime contractor, the cost growth became a 

concern. So the Program Manager asked the Army S&T community to develop a low cost 

version.F

17F The result is the Very Affordable Projectile (VAP) program. ARL and ARDEC put 

together a new team including the company L3 for GPS technology. The VAP round has less 

ambitious control technology and, in test at the Yuma Proving Grounds, has achieved somewhat 

greater CEPs than for the Excalibur. The price for the VAP is estimated to be less (CTE8).F

18F

However, VAP will probably have somewhat less capability and reliability than Excalibur, 

which will be greater than 90 percent, meaning that some capability will be lost for reduced cost. 

VAP has also not gone through the engineering and manufacturing development phase. In 

addition, with the planned Excalibur Increment 1b, which would field a lower cost and higher 

reliability system, funding for continued efforts on the VAP are unlikely. 

 

13 Mr. Ray Sicignano, SME, ARDEC, interviewed by authors, July 23, 2012. 

14 Excalibur (XM982), US Army 2010 Weapon Systems, prepared by OASA (ALT), 92. 15 HAudraH Colloway, “Picatinney’s GPS-guided Excalibur artillery round deemed amazingly accurate by troop,” 

www.Army.mil ̧ September 11, 2008, available at <www.army.mil/article/12329>. 16 “Soldiers select four Picatinney inventions as best of 2007,” Picatinney Arsenal, June 6, 2008, available at 

<www.pica.army.mil/picatinnypublic/highlights/archive/2008/06-06-08.asp>. 17 Mr. Peter Plostins, Associate Director of S&T, ARL-WMRD, and Dr. Dave Lyon, Branch Chief, ARL-WMRD, 

interviewed by authors, July 12, 2012. 

18 Mr. Ray Sicignano, SME, ARDEC, interviewed by authors, July 23, 2012. 
8 

There are two other Army programs for GPS-guided munitions mentioned above. One is the 

PGK for a screw-on fuze with some guidance for adding to legacy rounds currently in the 

stockpile.F

19F (This is guided versus the earlier fuzed round that was fire-and-forget, so that the 

Army knew where the round hit and then could calculate the trajectory for the second round). 

The PGK is spin stabilized and also delivers a reasonable CEP. This system is based on 

commercially available hardware. As previously mentioned, the Navy and Marines are working 

on this technology for 81mm mortars. They have just demonstrated the mortar at Yuma Proving 

Grounds. This technology is at Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-6 with a planned date for 

first fielding at the end of FY2014. 

The second program is the accelerated precision mortar initiative (APMI) which uses the MGK. 

The not-for-record program was fielded in limited quantities in Afghanistan, through a rapid 

fielding effort at the Project Manager Office. The kit contains the same technology as the PGK 

round. The services would like to convert the effort to a program of record. 

The Army Research Office has funded basic research in another technology called Scorpion.F

20F

Scorpion is an entirely different munitions guidance technique that relates the munitions’ 

orientation state to the Earth’s magnetic field (CTE9). It does not appear in any hardware at this 

time, but it is mentioned here for completeness as another potential guidance technique that has 

had basic research funding by the Army. 

The community consensus is that there are six scientific innovations that enabled this Excalibur 

capabilityF

21F that were contributions across several Army S&T organizations. 

First was the Selective Availability Anti-spoofing Module (SAASM) (CTE10), which is the 

latest in military GPS technology developed jointly by the Services and industry. The module 

allows satellite authentication, over-the-air rekeying, and contingency recovery. 

The creation of microelectronics to fit in the fuzes—MEMS for example—from service labs and 

industry is the second innovation. (CTE11). Microelectronics for the three Services’ military 

applications has many contributors and represents a unique function for Service specific 

applications. Whereas there is a large commercial microelectronics industry, the military-unique 

applications require in-house investment since there would be little incentive for commercial 

industry to pursue development of those devices that enable the military application. Fuzes are a 

prime example of a military-unique capability. 

The third innovation is the high performance computer modeling of the non-linear responses of 

the airframe of the round under guidance changes (CTE12). In other words, how the round itself 

responds to guidance changes in mid-air. Many different scenarios can be explored using 

computer models that cannot be addressed with real hardware in the field. ARL has pursued 

copious computer simulations to address all aspects of GPS-guided munitions for Excalibur and 

the VAP, as has been the case in the past for BAT, the Army Tactical Missile System 

(ATACMS), and the SADARM. 

 

19 Note that Excalibur has an integrated fuze in the round. 

20 Scorpion is one of a series of very small guided munitions, such as grenades and large bullets, funded by DARPA. 

Dr. Tom Doligalski, Program Manager, ARO, interviewed by authors, September 6, 2012. 

21 Mr. Peter Plostins, Associate Director of S&T, ARL-WMRD, and Dr. Dave Lyon, Branch Chief, ARL-WMRD, 

interviewed by authors, July 12, 2012. 
9 

Fourth was the addition of micro-electromechanical system sensors and actuators (CTE13). 

ARL-Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate (ARL-SEDD) is a world leader in these devices 

for actuators and worked with ARL Weapons and Materiel Directorate (ARL-WMRD) for 

implementation in Excalibur. ARL in-house investment in these sensors and actuators has been 

in collaboration with academia under the Micro-Autonomous Systems Technology (MAST) 

Collaborative Technology Alliance which was initiated with the identification of the potential 

importance of micro-systems on the modern urban battlefield. 

Reduced state guidance was the fifth innovation, and uses intrinsic physics and aerodynamics for 

the system to reduce the burden on the guidance and actuation systems that reduce the hardware 

and software for maneuver (CTE14).F

22F Only seven out of twelve state vectors are usedF23F and 

were found by ARL to be sufficient. This innovation reduces the system complexity of sensor 

systems. 

The final innovation was the targeting technology used by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), 

aerostats, or Forward Observers (CTE15).F

24F This technology is referred to as Extended Area 

Protection Systems (EAPS). While it is not part of GPS-guided munitions per se, it completes the 

whole weapon system. EAPS is the counter incoming threat munitions with the goal to develop 

technologies for 360-degree mobile air defense against rockets, artillery, and mortars (RAM). 

ARDEC has the gun component and the Army Missile Research, Development and Engineering 

Center (AMRDEC) has the missile component. 

2Bb. Constant Hawk 

Both Iraq and Afghanistan are defined by their large open areas and dense urban terrains. The 

scope of operations requires ubiquitous sensors for persistent wide-area surveillance, intelligence 

gathering, and precision targeting. Constant Hawk, which was originally named Mohawk Stare 

in 2005, was the first large area surveillance system fielded. Initially deployed as a 90-day 

demonstration, quick-reaction program to counter the threat from improvised explosive devices 

(IED), Constant Hawk used a fixed-wing Shorts 360-300 aircraft as a sensor platform and two 

analyst sites outside of the continental United States. Constant Hawk is a manned tactical aircraft 

platform containing sensor operators and sensors, whose acronym is sometimes confused with 

Global Hawk, which is unmanned. The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance 

unmanned aircraft system with an integrated sensor suite that provides intelligence, surveillance, 

and reconnaissance capability worldwide. The large areas that Constant Hawk needed to cover 

for its mission implied not only a robust sensor, but also the acquisition, processing, and storage 

of large-image databases and intelligent computer processing to acquire events of interest. The 

Constant Hawk challenges were not only in integrating and maintaining the sensor, but also in 

processing, managing, and exploiting the database to drive intelligence products. 

The original program Mohawk Stare envisioned a system that could be tasked to do surveillance 

and reconnaissance above a city. This initial program became Constant Hawk.F

25F The Lawrence 

Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) had the original idea for combining six independent 

 

22 Mr. Peter Plostins, Associate Director of S&T, ARL-WMRD, participated in this research. 23 VAP only, not Excalibur. Mr. Peter Plostins, Associate Director of S&T, ARL-WMRD, and Dr. Dave Lyon, 

Branch Chief, ARL-WMRD, private communication to authors, July 12, 2012. 24 Concept is Part of Army ATO. See Manfredi Luciano, Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) ATO, 

PowerPoint, Presented at the 46th Annual Guns and Missiles Systems Conference, April 12, 2011, available at 

<www.dtic.mil/ndia/2011gunmissile/Tuesday11641_Luciano.pdf>. 

25 Mr. Andrew Ladas, Branch Chief, ARL-SEDD, interviewed by authors, July 9, 2012. 
10 

imaging sensors together to form larger fields of view (FOV) (66 megapixels flat focal plane) for 

greater ground coverage, called the “Sonoma Configuration” (CTE16). This WFOV 

configuration of the six cameras combined the sensors using an off-the-optical-axis approach 

which produced degraded imagery over approximately one-third of the total field of view. The 

platform flight profile and collection geometry produced imagery, which covered approximately 

a 6-km diameter circle on the ground, however, only a 4-km diameter was exploitable due to 

image distortion and intensity fall off using the Somona configuration. ARL improved the 

camera configuration in a later Constant Hawk sensor design by orienting the six cameras on the 

optical axis and pointing them to cover the WFOV and by using improved commercial off-theshelf (COTS) lenses that alleviated the distortion problems of the original configuration. The 

ARL sensor configuration provided exploitable imagery over the entire FOV. By 2009, all 

Constant Hawk platforms were upgraded to the ARL configuration along with six 16 megapixel 

cameras to give a 96 megapixel WFOV composite stitched image (CTE17).F

26F Interface issues 

within the focal plane array (FPA) were a major problem that needed to be addressed. ARL 

worked with the sensor operators on a weekly basis to operate and optically filter the imagers to 

generate optimum imagery for exploitation throughout the entire deployment. The U.S. Air 

Force Angel Fire and follow-on Blue Devil program aimed to do the same thing for the U.S. 

Marines. 

A second color version of the 16 megapixel camera, called the Auxiliary Persistent Sensor 

(APS), with an attached lens was added to two Constant Hawk platforms as a secondary 

auxiliary persistent camera that gave higher resolution imagery on the ground near the center of 

the Constant Hawk orbit. This camera was integrated into a separate gimbal and was pointed 

independently of the WFOV camera by the sensor operator. This camera had three applications: 

First, it spots pictures that replaced a previously deployed handheld camera; second, it uses stepstare photo mosaics to create large panorama high resolution images covering up to 4,000 square 

meters; third, it has persistent image of a fixed location within the larger WFOV footprint. This 

last mode allowed Constant Hawk to create hybrid products that contained high resolution color 

imagery of targets of interest overlaid on the standard Constant Hawk WFOV intelligence 

product, which covered the larger FOV at lower resolution (CTE18). This last mode allowed the 

deployed Constant Hawk platform to provide intelligence products to the warfighter at a similar 

resolution to the new >1Gigapixel systems currently under development. 

Constant Hawk generated 1 Terabyte of data per hour. The MIT Lincoln Lab (MITLL) APIX 

viewer was used for real-time exploitation onboard the aircraft and at the operation centers 

through the tactical command data link (TCDL). The WFOV sensor imagery was collected in 

parallel onto two separate redundant hard drive arrays. One set of data that was on a hard drive 

went to the analysts on the ground for immediate exploitation in raw form. The second set went 

to a processing computer cluster on the ground at the bed down site. MIT developed and 

implemented algorithms that operated on the processing cluster for stitching the images together; 

image processing to sharpen the images, do histogram normalization, and data reduction; and 

JPEG compression. The MITLL APIX viewer was used for all forensic analysis, using raw and 

processed data, with any human processing done on the ground. The National Geospatial Agency 

was responsible for the data archiving, which was transferred to bases in the continental U.S. on 

hard drives or via satellite links. 

 

26 Mr. Bill Ruff, SME, ARL-SEDD, interviewed by authors, August 7-8, 2012. 
11 

The Constant Hawk platform was not designed for registering the airborne imagery with digital 

maps of the terrain. Typically, there was error in the location where the sensor was looking and 

where the actual location was on the ground. This was not acceptable for “publishing” the data as 

an intelligence product. Constant Hawk products, and thus the information derived from the 

analytical products and published to the customer, actually consisted of human analyst 

annotations using ArcGIS, a commercial geospatial product, as the base geo-spatial layer.F

27

ARL developed the approach to better register the data and give a three-dimensional perspective 

situational awareness view of the area using the Army Geospatial Center (AGC) Buckeye data 

(CTE19).F

28F The Buckeye data is a database that is based on Light Detection and Ranging 

(LIDAR) data and gives intensity and range to any point on the earth. The intensity data gives 

shadows in the scene, which can be used to register the objects like buildings that give large 

shadows for the otherwise contrast-less desert/urban scenes. An existing ARL algorithm was 

applied to the Constant Hawk imagery with the three-dimensional Buckeye imagery and reduced 

the Constant Hawk imagery geo-location error significantly. The tool also allowed the analyst to 

view the data in three-dimensions, generate line of sight from any location, illustrate sun shadow 

locations, and import Constant Hawk and other track and shape file data. This tool was deployed 

to Iraq as an analyst aid to streamline the analytical process and reduce the time to generate a 

Constant Hawk product. 

The ARL hybrid approach to the registration was to drape a smooth simulated surface over any 

smooth ground surface and if the ground surface is not smooth, then use a discrete point cloud. 

This hybrid approach was not used by the time the war ended in Iraq. However, the threedimensional visualization developed by ARL has been applied to all Buckeye data and any 

imagery available on the AGC website today is three-dimensional as a result of this ARL S&T 

effort.F

29F The three-dimensional capability is now available for any user or image-gathering 

platform. 

The Constant Hawk imagery was transferred to the ground stations where analysts then 

conducted manual exploitation of the imagery. Processing in terms of image understanding and 

context in the images needed to be developed. ARL scientists and engineers with MIT Lincoln 

Lab were able to successfully support the image analysis community with algorithms to enable 

this capability (CTE20). 

The Constant Hawk forensics approach was deployed first in Iraq in August 2006. The Project 

Manager Airborne Reconnaissance and Exploitation Systems (PM ARES) became the Program 

Manager for the Iraq deployment and then for an Afghanistan deployment. The demonstrable 

success of ARL’s Constant Hawk deployment to Iraq was underscored when U.S. forces in 

Afghanistan requested a clone system. NVESD took over the program execution from ARL for 

the Afghanistan system, while ARL continued to provide all analytical training for deploying 

analysts. The Constant Hawk collaborative effort represented a classic example of government, 

industry, and university efforts combining to solve a significant technical problem. ARL trained 

the analysts and developed the concept of operations for system employment while continuing to 

provide technical oversight to the deployed Iraq systems. ARL developed the software to register 

the Constant Hawk imagery to a geo-registered map that gave the real ground coordinates of the 

 

27 Ms. Susan Toth, SME, ARL-SEDD, interviewed by authors, September 5, 2012. 

28 Dr. Jeff Dammann, ARL-SEDD, interviewed by authors, August 17, 2012. 

29 Esri, Homepage, available at <Hwww.esri.com/software/arcgisH>. 
12 

imagery of interest by the analysts. They also developed the software to display the imagery in 

three dimensions. While LLNL developed the original concept behind the visible electro-optical 

(EO) camera, MIT Lincoln Lab developed the concept behind the data processing for recording, 

moving, and processing the 1Tb/hour imagery and implementing the registration technique. 

Under NVESD direction, BAE Systems developed the EO/IR MWIR camera (MWAPS). The 

two cameras gathered near infrared (NIR) and midwave infrared (MWIR) imagery 

simultaneously. NGA became the repository of data. This is the first time such a large data 

repository came into being. 

23Bc. Unattended Transient Acoustic/Artillery MASINT System (UTAMS) 

Acoustic, seismic, and infrasonic sensors have the ability to monitor hostile territory, 

international borders, or detect firing of indirect fire weapons covertly. Small unattended ground 

acoustic, seismic, or infrasonic sensors can perform 24-hour surveillance and alert the onset of 

hostile military activity. Small, inexpensive non-imaging sensors such as these require little 

power and do not require dedicated human interaction.F

30F Arrays of sensors can monitor large 

areas with relatively little investment in power sources and manpower. 

Developed by ARL, UTAMS is a four microphone configuration that can locate the x, y, and z 

directions from an acoustic signal and is sensitive in the 20-500 Hz frequency range. It was 

deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005 for mortar detection (CTE 21). Development was based on 

experience with an infrasonic surveillance system (<20 Hz). ARL developed the sensor arrays 

and signal processing. Noise reduction/cancellation algorithms, also developed at ARL, adapt to 

the surrounding ambient noises. These noises, such as that created by a generator, produce a 

continuous resonance that can be separated out via adaptive filtering. Processing developed for 

infrasound was combined with acoustic microphones and deployed in Iraq with smaller sensors 

arrays to detect rockets, small arms and mortars. UTAMS was specifically requested by the S&T 

field assistance team in Iraq to detect mortars and was funded by the U.S. Army Intelligence and 

Security Command. UTAMS acoustic sensors were also found to be able to detect IED 

explosions. 

ARL infrasonic sensors were first deployed to Korea in 2001. The U.S. Army in Korea had a 

requirement for non-emitting surveillance systems on the Demilitarized Zone. Infrasonic sensors 

(< 20 Hz) are available for artillery detection (8-10 Hz) but mortars create a frequency spectrum 

in the 100 Hz region. Thus, they had a need for acoustic sensors (20-200 KHz) as well. In 2004 

the request came from operations in Iraq for sensors to detect mortars since in theater radars were 

not able to perform this function. 

The Rapid Equipping Force funded UTAMS in 2005 and 2006 for use in Iraq for Forward 

Operating Base protection. UTAMS arrays triangulate/localize acoustic signals. Networking of 

multiple UTAMS arrays is the next major development and will provide wider area coverage, 

less time delay and better location accuracy. The fielding of networked UTAMS will provide the 

opportunity for signal processing from the various sensors to provide more precise and accurate 

localization of events. 

UTAMS sensor arrays have been mounted on an aerostat in Afghanistan. Aero-mounted 

UTAMS System (AMUS) was UTAMS mounted on aerostats at 3000 feet (915 m) with 8 

microphones providing three-dimensional location. The Persistent Threat Detection System 

 

30 Mr. Steve Tenney, SME, ARL-SEDD, interviewed by authors, July 9, 2012. 
13 

(PTDS) employed UTAMS with an EO imager mounted on an aerostat that received UTAMS 

cues for the direction in which to slew the camera (CTE22). Persistent Ground Surveillance 

Systems (PGSS) is a smaller aerostat much like PTDS. New signal processing is being 

developed for event identification. Further research is needed for more complete suite of 

detection, recognition, and identification of acoustic events. ARL has already developed the 

detection algorithm. ARL noise cancellation algorithms have been shown to reduce that false 

alarm rate and they include signal quality measures (CTE 23) for improved performance. ARL 

fabricated the first systems, which are now produced by vendors. The Project Manager Remote 

Unattended Systems took over procurement and fielding in 2007; the Program Manager Ground 

Sensors is taking over in 2012. 

In 2006 UTAMS II was designed, based on lessons learned from previous fielding, and 

automatic alignment with two GPS sensors for pointing direction has been implemented. 

Pointing to within less than one degree in several hours has been demonstrated. Solar panels with 

batteries can be used as power sources to reduce power requirements. The Miniature Acoustic 

Warning System (MAWS) is a mobile UTAMS in a smaller package. Based on the successful 

performance of UTAMS, acoustic, seismic, and infrasonic sensors are now considered as viable 

sensors for any mission that requires multi-sensor capability. 

24Bd. Thermal Imaging 

There are four ways to see at night: First, a source of visible light can illuminate the scene and 

the combatants, for example, by lighting a fire or with a searchlight. Second, invisible artificial 

illumination can be used with an image tube that converts the invisible radiation to visible. 

However, in both these cases the enemy can use the illumination (since very inexpensive image 

converters are widely available) as well as friends, negating any advantage due to the light. 

A third night vision technology is image intensification (I2). This technology is a light 

amplification device that amplifies NIR ambient radiation from the moon, stars and night sky. 

This radiation at 0.7-0.9 microns is invisible to the human eye. Using NIR gathering optics, the 

images are focused on a photocathode that transduces the NIR light to electrons. The electrons 

can then be processed by a gain mechanism, such as a microchannel plate and focused on a 

phosphor display to the human. Assuming the opposing side does not have this technology, there 

is a night vision advantage to the user for target acquisition and terrain navigation. 

I2 was initially fielded by the U.S. Army for night operations in the 1960s and 1970s in Vietnam. 

For the first time in history, an army could fight at night. Although image intensifiers enable 

night capability there are limitations. The devices use reflected ambient lighting for operation; 

thus, when there is no moon, performance is degraded.F

31F Bright sources on the battlefield 

degrade imagery due to the halo and glare that surrounds them, as does naturally occurring hazes 

and fogs due to atmospheric propagation. Finally, the range limitations of the devices limit 

operations to primarily man portable applications. Larger weapons, such as tank main guns and 

helicopter gunships still had no night targeting capability with I2, although it was and is used for 

driving or as a piloting aid for flight.F

32F 

 

31 Daniel Hoesk, SME, CERDEC NVESD, email to authors, December 13, 2012. 32 This paper is describing CTEs for only the thermal imaging night vision technology. An entirely separate section 

of this paper could be dedicated to image intensification and the set of associated CTEs with I2, including image 

tubes, optics and photocathodes. However, the authors have chosen to limit the scope of this paper to only thermal 

imaging night vision technology. 
14 

Finally, the fourth way to see at night has been with the introduction of thermal imaging, known 

as Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR). Thermal imaging uses naturally emitted infrared energy 

from objects that are at a temperature above ambient. Room temperature infrared radiation at 

300K peaks in the longwave infrared (LWIR), typical of body temperature and vehicle 

temperatures. Thermal imagers focus the ambient infrared radiation with infrared optics onto an 

infrared transducer, the detector array, that converts it to electronic signals that can be processed 

and then drive a display for viewing by a Soldier. It is light level independent and there are better 

transmission characteristics in the longwave infrared than the visible/near infrared radiation, 

especially under fog and smoke conditions. Of course, there are degradations due to object 

temperatures that are much lower than 300K and when the emissivity in the longwave infrared is 

very low. 

Thermal imaging in the 8-12 micrometer longwave infrared spectral region is a natural 

complement to the I2 technology by covering more environmental conditions and enabling night 

sights for the larger weapons platforms. Thermal imaging technology along with I2 has been 

deployed to the extent that every combat Soldier in the U.S. Army has night vision capability. 

The tactical advantage of the night vision capability is evidenced by the fact that the American 

Soldier prefers to fight at night rather than during the day. Whereas I2 works only during the 

darkness of night, thermal imaging is a day/night technology that has proliferated across all 

Army platforms: helicopters, combat and transport vehicles, and the individual Soldier. It is even 

a prime candidate for the sensor for robot vision. In addition, thermal imaging has been applied 

to all sensor applications: reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance and target acquisition, 

navigation, pilotage, seekers, munitions guidance, and countermine. There is a price to pay for 

these technology improvements: thermal imaging is significantly more expensive, heavier, and 

more power hungry than I2; high-performance infrared detectors must be cooled to, typically 

liquid nitrogen (77K). Both these technologies have significant missions on the modern 

battlefield. 

The First Generation thermal imagers were developed and fielded in the 1970s and 1980s based 

on a set of infrared modules that could be configured in any package unique to a particular 

weapons platform and that were based on scanning a one-dimensional linear array of infrared 

detectors that scanned the infrared scene to generate a two-dimensional scene. This set of Armypatented Common Modules (CTE 24) in collaboration with US industry is composed of mercury 

cadmium telluride (MCT) detector arrays (60, 120 or 180 detectors long for man-portable, 

combat vehicle or helicopter systems, respectively), coolers, processing electronics, collimators, 

scanners, and LED displays that could be interfaced to any weapons platform for example, the 

TOW missile system, the M60 and Abrams tanks, the Apache helicopter, among others. This was 

the technology of Operation Desert Storm which caused the commander of the 24th Infantry 

Division Major General Barry McCaffrey to say, “Our night vision capability provided the single 

greatest mismatch of the war.”F

33

The Army Night Vision Laboratory (NVL)F

34F working with its industry partners realized early on 

that resolution and sensitivity were the bottom-line parameters for all sensors. Therefore, 

techniques were explored with government-developed and owned performance bench tests 

(CTE25) and models (CTE 26) to discover and pursue methods to improve sensitivity and 

 

33 “NVESD Legacy-Changing the Way We Fight Wars,” Publicly released chart U.S. Army, CERDEC of CERDEC 

NVESD, circa 1992. 

34 This laboratory became the Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) of CERDEC. 
15 

resolution of the Common Module-based imagers. The bench tests defined for thermal imagers 

are the techniques for measuring Minimum Resolvable Temperature Difference (MRT or 

MRTD).F

35F Based on validated performance models that used the minimum measurement as the 

system figure of merit, and validating experimental data from existing thermal imagers, 

approaches to increase signal-to-noise ratio and pixels on target were proposed and pursued by 

Army scientists and engineers. The concept for a second generation was formalized and focused 

on a linear-scanned FPA with time-delay-and-integrate (CTE 27) to increase signal-to-noise at 

each pixel by having a series of detectors scanned at each pixel. 

Given the overwhelming success of thermal imaging sensors, it became clear that the cost of the 

infrared systems technology needed to be addressed and significant cost reductions enabled 

through further S&T.F

36F NVESD put together a candidate producibility program for MCT 

detectors, with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and 

involving the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Infrared Focal Plane Array (IRFPA) 

program started in 1988 and the goal was to reduce the costs of the array by a factor of 100 

times. The focus of the Army part of the program was on MCT growth processes; epitaxy, liquid 

phase epitaxy (LPE) and molecular-organo-chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). There was 

also an effort in platinum silicide (PtSi) infrared material staring arrays. The IRFPA was 

followed by the DARPA flexible manufacturing program addressing the complete sealed cooler, 

or dewar, package in 1991 to 1994. Each of the service labs involved—NVESD, the Wright 

Patterson Air Force Laboratory, and the Naval Research Laboratory—ran a part of the program 

with each of the major infrared array manufacturers at that time. These manufacturing and 

producibility programs resulted in significant leaps forward in development of thermal imaging 

systems and major cost reductions for the proliferation of thermal imaging systems throughout 

the Services (CTE28). The availability of staring arrays developed under the DARPA programs 

enabled the development of the fire-and-forget Javelin missile, which would not have been 

otherwise available, and would have resulted in the stopping of the Javelin development.F

37F This 

whole infrared detector development is an example of the Service S&T laboratory community 

identifying a critical S&T objective and opportunity to give a leap-ahead military operational 

capability that would otherwise not be realized. This is a key leadership function of the Service 

in-house S&T community led by the laboratories. 

Second Generation FLIR has been fielded to the Abrams tank, the Long Range Advanced Sensor 

Suite (LRASS), the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and the Apache Helicopter.F

38F This generation has 

a linear array scanned 480x4 format, like First Generation Common Modules, but each pixel has 

four detectors in series instead of one. The signal from each of the detectors is time-delayed and 

integrated, as the detector is scanned across the image, with the signal-to-noise ratio at each point 

in the scene increased by the square root of the number of detectors in series. Hence, use of four 

 

35 J. Wood, “Laboratory Bench Analysis of Thermal Imaging Systems,” Optical Engineering 13, no. 5 (1974), 93-

197. 

36 Dr. John Pollard was invited to give the Dowd Lecture to the meeting of the National Military Sensing 

Symposium, 2006. Dr. Pollard documented the concerns that DOD Defense Product Engineering Services Office 

(DPESO) expressed on the producibility of IR FPAs. Funding was obtained and the program transitioned to DARPA 

with Tri-service participation. The Producibility program ran from June 1988 to 1991. 37 John Lyons, Duncan Long, and Richard Chait, Critical Technology Events in the Development of the Stinger and 

Javelin Missile Systems-Project Hindsight Revisited, Defense & Technology Paper 33 (Washington, DC: Center for 

Technology and National Security Policy, July 2006). 

38 Dr. Don Reago, Associate Director, NVESD, interviewed by authors, July 17, 2012. 
16 

detectors results in a factor of two increase in signal-to-noise ratio at each point compared to 

first-generation scanned devices. The increased signal-to-noise results in greater performance in 

degraded atmospheric environments and can help with inherently low signature targets or ones 

that have been degraded due to environmental effects, such as rainfall on targets. Both first and 

second generation devices have to be cryogenically cooled to 77K. 

Third Generation Dual Band (MW/LWIR) FLIR based on the MCT at 77K, the workhorse of IR 

imaging, and with a 1048x720 staring two dimensional array format is ready for transition to 

fielded platforms. The dual band permits higher resolution for target identification due to the 

shorter midwave infrared wavelength and greater atmospheric penetration in the longwave 

infrared, as well as some detection enhancement due to the multi-spectral sensing (CTE 29). 

However, affordability of the more sophisticated FPA has been an issue. Collaboration between 

the Army laboratories such as NVESD and ARL, together with academic institutes like the State 

University of New York at Stony Brook for lifetime measurements of new kinds of detector 

structures, such as type II superlattices (T2SL), which are periodic structures of layers of two or 

more detector materials, and private industry companies like Raytheon and Teledyne are 

pursuing alternative, more affordable materials and FPA structures. The main thrust is growing 

MCT on silicon (CTE 30), as opposed to the presently expensive cadmium zinc telluride 

substrates, but which has significantly different material mismatch characteristics. Another 

alternative is going to T2SL mentioned above. Superlattices (CTE 31) are an entirely different 

device structure. Whereas midwave infrared indium antiminide (InSb) is an available crystal 

growth technology that is inherently expensive in commercial foundries, epitaxially grown Type 

II superlattice structures of indium arsenide on gallium indium arsenide (InAs/GaInAs) is an 

attractive approach being pursued. Additionally, the radically different new nBn devices of 

InAs/GaSb heterostructure, superlattice detector design with extremely low surface currents 

(CTE32)F

39F are being pursued with the potential benefits of large format MWIR cooled to only 

150K for the Constant Hawk platform. This cooling temperature difference from 77K to 150K 

has enormous systems power impact. 

Research and engineering on a longwave infrared thermal imaging technology that does not 

require cryogenic cooling has been pursued by NVESD and industry with uncooled bolometers 

fabricated, typically in commercial sensors with amorphous silicon or vanadium oxide(VOx)F

40F

material (CTE 33). Present sizes for uncooled FPAs are 640x480 bolometer elements. This 

research and development is being aimed at large megapixel arrays (720x1280) for the Tactical 

UAV surveillance application and ultimately to 1080x1920 elements. Twelve micron pixels with 

extremely low noise equivalent temperature are the enablers for this application where power 

and size are critical. Although uncooled thermal imaging is inherently a lower power, weight, 

size, and cost technology than the cryogenically cooled technology, innovations are needed to 

configure the uncooled technology for different platforms. Helmet-mounted uncooled sensors 

with image intensifiers for multispectral applications are of great interest for individual Soldier 

applications. NVESD is pursuing new optical and display configurations to enhance uncooled 

longwave infrared imaging on such highly constrained platforms. A commercial market for 

uncooled infrared for firefighters helps support this technology since longwave infrared thermal 

 

39 G. Bishop, E. Plis, J.B. Rodriguez, Y.D. Sharma, H.S. Kim, L.R. Dawson, and S. Krishna, “nBn detectors based 

on InAs/GaSb type-II strain layer superlattice,” Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B 26, no. 3 (2008), 

1145-1148. 40 x is variable but typically ~2. 
17 

imaging has smoke penetration capabilities. Firefighters with such devices can see people in 

smoke-filled rooms that otherwise could not be seen. 

There are special niche thermal imaging technologies that have been and continue to be 

developed by the Army S&T community, particularly at ARL-SEDD. A prime example is the 

quantum well infrared photodiode (QWIP) detector technology. This is a gallium arsenide on 

aluminum gallium arsenide (GaAs/AlGaAs) material system composed of multi-layers of 

epitaxial grown layers from which diodes are formed sensitive in either the midwave or 

longwave infrared spectral regions, depending on material composition. Corrugated QWIP (CQWIP) has been a recently developed new detector structure that through a photolithographic 

process fabricates a resonant superstructure on top of the detector. This structure orients more of 

the incident E-field of the infrared radiation on the detector to be parallel to the detector surface, 

which is the only orientation that the QWIP can absorb (CTE34). 

QWIPs are an inherently less expensive and more available material system based on GaAs, 

than, for example, MCT, and can be fabricated in 640x480 or 512 formats with larger FPAs 

being addressed.F

41F However, it does require cryogenic cooling from 77K to 85K. QWIPs are 

ideal for large field of view for persistent surveillance operating in the longwave infrared due to 

the high material uniformity and low cost. Designer applications where waveband tailoring is 

important can be pursued. The infrared technology company L3 has transitioned the technology 

from the Army to a commercial production line. At this time there has been no transition to an 

Army tech base program or platform. There has been a transition to NASA for satellite sensor 

applications. 

25Be. 5V Li-Ion Batteries 

The present average load for Soldier power for a 72-hour mission is 18 pounds (8.2 kg) for 70 

batteries of 7 different types. These batteries are used for night sights, head sets, radios, laser 

range finders, beacons, handheld lights, among others. Standard rechargeable batteries used 

today are typically 3.8 volts. Energy density is proportional to the voltage of a battery. A recent 

breakthrough by ARL in 5 volt Li-ion batteries (CTE 35) has resulted in a potential 30 percent 

increase in energy density due to the increase to 5 volt. This increase in energy density can result 

in a number of potential advantages for the Soldier. For example, it could realize a 30 percent 

longer battery life or a 30 percent reduction in battery weight.F

42F 

This breakthrough was the result of research at ARL on the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) of 

graphite anodes and several high-voltage cathodes. A fundamental understanding (CTE 36) was 

gained for the reaction products between electrodes and electrolyte that gave rise to the 

identification of fluorinated phosphate ester structure being able to stabilize carbonate-based 

electrolytes on 5 volts class cathode surfaces. The additives participate in forming a protective 

interphasial chemistry not only on transition metal oxide cathodes at high voltage, but also on 

graphitic graphite at low voltage making formulation of an electrolyte that could support 

reversible Li+-intercalation chemistry at 5V. Several patents have been applied for this 

discovery. A strong modeling effort supported this research with the modeling of the 5V cathode 

 

41 C-QWIP infrared FPAs of 2K x 2K elements are being fabricated for NASA. 42 Dr. Cindy Lundgren, Branch Chief, ARL-SEDD, interview with authors, August 6, 2012. 
18 

structure. The modeling gave a new understanding to why the electronic structure of LiCoPO4 

decayed and changed.F

43F 

Various approaches, including design and synthesis of new solvents and additives, were 

formulated for electrolyte composition that support 5 volt Li-ion intercalation cathode with a low 

potential graphite anode. Unique ARL dry room facilities with extremely low dew points, with 

moisture less than five parts per million, were critical to this research. The research identified 

and focused on hexafluoro-iso-propanol (HFiP), a member of the phosphate ester family, as an 

important electrolyte component to be pursued that enabled attainment of 5 volt potentials 

(CTE37). HFiP is a sacrificial dopant in the electrolyte which, on charging, passivates the 

cathode surface, thereby prolonging the life of the cell. 

Ninety percent of the entire research effort on the 5 volt Li-ion battery was done at ARL. 

However, there were some significant contributions from other government laboratories making 

this effort a truly multi-laboratory collaboration. There was U.S. Department of Energy interest 

and funding, NRL did some modeling, and The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory did 

characterization. In addition, others are using the new understanding of the additives and are 

conducting research with other cathodes. The research conducted by ARL in this area is having, 

and will continue to have significant long-term influence on the rechargeable battery technology 

community as a whole. 

The significant 30 percent increase in energy density, due to the breakthrough of designing the 

right catalyst and cathode configuration, already has commercial industry interest. One license 

agreement is already in hand by the Army and ten material transfer agreements have been signed. 

The potential importance of this accomplishment is already acknowledged by the Army, which 

chose the industrial scale-up of the Li-ion battery additives and cathode as part of their 

Congressional Add request on “Alternative Energy.” While this battery technology will be 

transitioned to commercial industry, the result will have major impact for the Army. The new Liion battery technology will now be transferable to all Army platforms that use rechargeable 

batteries at commercially competitive prices. 

 

43 Arthur Von Cresce and Kand Xu, “Electrolyte Additive in Support of 5V Li Ion Chemistry,” Journal of the 

Electrochemical Society 158, no. 3 (2011), A337-A342. 
19 

3BIV. DATABASES, MODELING, AND SIMULATIONS 

The five systems discussed in the previous paragraphs have their success rooted in significant 

investments in modeling, simulations, and databases. Army unique investments and technical 

achievements in these supporting technologies are keys to the successes described previously. 

13Ba. GPS-Guided Munitions 

The data required in order to completely cover the multitudinous engagement scenarios with all 

the possible parameters could not be obtained by any series of field experiments. The parameter 

space for the flight and target variables would require unobtainable R&D dollars to explore the 

entire range of variables, as well as unobtainable hardware. However, the availability of high 

performance computing (HPC) resources and engagement models permitted exploration of the 

many dimensions of the parameter space. More and more Army battlefield scenarios are being 

explored in this and other weapons areas by ARL with the use of HPC hardware and software 

resources available to Army laboratories and their industry and academic partners (CTE38). 

ARL has a long history in using these resources to analyze new lethality concepts. Before 

Excalibur there were extensive HPC analyses on BAT, ATACMS and SADARM. 

14Bb. Constant Hawk 

Constant Hawk generates an enormous and extremely complex image database. The complexity 

of urban terrain makes intelligent monitoring and forensics in large format imaging FPAs an 

insurmountable problem without appropriate off-focal- plane software to highlight targets and 

identify them in this enormous database. Megapixel images at standard frame rates of urban 

clutter are arguably the most difficult scenario of target acquisition, recognition, and tracking—

even with human aids. Processing of such images needs more research investment for transfer to 

the field to augment the success of human intelligence analysts on the ground. The transition of 

any technique—such as adding a three dimensional perspective (CTE39), as was done with 

Constant Hawk data—is a step in right direction. As the image databases continue to grow from 

Constant Hawk and similar imaging assets, more and more sophisticated algorithms are required 

to derive tactically relevant information in a timely manner. This technical challenge is the first 

step in the Data to DecisionsF

44F priority investment area for the Office of the Secretary of Defense 

for the FY13-17 to develop science and applications to reduce the cycle time and manpower 

requirements for analysis and use of large data sets that transcend the individual sensor data to 

commanders’ decisions. ARL continues to address these areas. 

15Bc. UTAMS 

The UTAMS database issues are similar to that of Constant Hawk except instead of locating 

targets in two dimensional images, the triangulation of acoustic/infrasonic signals in a cacophony 

of sounds is desired. The database of non-target to real targets is also routinely augmented. ARL 

continues to gather and store the requisite signal databases for this particular task depending on 

the operational scenario. Training on the surrounding noise sources is critical to maintaining an 

acceptable false alarm rate. 

 

44 Robert Gates, memo, “Science and Technology (S&T) Priorities for Fiscal Years 2013-17 Planning,” April 19, 

2011, available at <www.acq.osd.mil/chieftechnologist/publications/docs/OSD%2002073-11.pdf>. 
20 

16Bd. Thermal Imaging 

Thermal imaging continues to be applied to more and more scenarios and systems. NVESD has a 

long history of development and system level models and simulations of infrared scenes viewed 

with infrared sensors. The validated models enable trade off studies of sensor concepts to satisfy 

various scenarios of interest. The FLIR model was based on the early television concept of the 

resolution of 3-bar test patterns to determine TV performance.F

45F The NVESD modeling basic 

concept was to relate the ability to resolve bar patterns when viewing through an infrared imager 

to the ability of an ensemble of observers to detect, recognize, and identify tactical targets and 

was first suggested and validated in 1958 by John Johnson of NVESD.F

46F The system level 

modelF

47F that was validated with realistic field data and released to the general community was 

adopted by the other Services, NATO, and the infrared industry as the standard yardstick against 

which any thermal imager performance could be determined before any hardware fabrication. 

Substantiated performance against the NVESD model with a proposed thermal imager design 

became a prerequisite for any Army procurement, such as the Apache helicopter and Abrams 

tank. The model is also used to represent target acquisition performance in large Army wargame 

simulations. 

First, second and third generation thermal imaging sensors were all designed and optimized for 

the various Army scenarios via these models. The improvements predicted with the model have 

all been validated with real systems. As new scenarios arise or new innovations in system 

designs evolve, the models evolve and are calibrated and modified by NVESD. These models 

were not adopted by the entire international community because they were better than any other, 

but because they had the validation database to support their validity. Many extensive and small 

field tests were performed with thermal imagers to supply scientifically valid experimental data 

in order to substantiate the model’s predictive capability. 

The electromagnetic field level modeling for C-QWIPs done at ARL is leading to new 

innovative design parameters and specifications for QWIP detectors and FPAs. This modeling 

work is supported by extensive in-house experiments to validate the modeling and discover new 

physics for this unique infrared material and device configurations. This is an example of new 

research performed in an Army laboratory leading to new Army system possibilities that would 

not be pursued by private industry because of the lack of a commercial market. Moreover, this 

particular research is leading to a civilian space application by NASA before the military and 

will, ultimately, lead to the affordability for the military sector. 

NVESD also pursued simulations of infrared scenes as viewed through thermal imagers. A 

capability for realistic battlefield scene generation was developed and used to transmit real time 

imagery to the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command Battle Labs in support of 

experiments. The simulation called “Paint the Night” was used to generate canonical sets of 

 

45 Military Standard Photographic Lenses, MIL-STD-150A (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, May 12, 

1959), 20-21, available at <www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a345623.pdf>. 

46 J. Johnson, “Analysis of image forming systems,” Proceedings of Image Intensifier Symposium, US Army 

Engineering and Development Lab, Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, 1958, 249-273, in R. B. Johnson and W.L. Wolfe, Infrared 

System Design 513, SPIE Milestone Series (1985). 47 J.A. Ratches, W.R. Lawson, L.P. Obert, R.J. Bergemann, T.W. Cassidy, J.M. Swenson, “Night Vision Laboratory 

Static Performance Model for Thermal Viewing Systems,” USA Electronics Command Report ECOM-7043, April 

1973, AD-A011212; also, J.A. Ratches, “Static performance model for thermal imaging systems,” Optical 

Engineering 15, no. 6 (December 1976), 525-530. 
21 

infrared scenes for human observers. It also became a scene generator for imagery to test 

automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithms against probability of detection and false alarm 

rate. This capability was transitioned to the training community in the form of training simulators 

for night sights on various weapons platforms such as the Abrams gunner’s sight (CTE40).F

48F

This program was named Recognition of Combat Vehicles (ROCV). In cooperation with the 

Program Executive Officer for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, the ROCV simulators 

became training aids for thermal signatures of combat vehicles. The present version uses real IR 

images of vehicles taken at short range, which are then “wire wrapped” to display at different 

ranges. The backgrounds for the vehicles at these different ranges are simulated from Paint the 

Night Image Generator, which is an NVESD development from Paint the Night. Many threat 

combat vehicles under many environmental conditions were assembled in a booth that projected 

the variations in infrared signatures to a display for the Soldier to train. Cues on the signature 

were highlighted to help identification of the target. 

ARL had a similar simulation called “Creation.”F

49F It was used as a scene generator for automatic 

target recognition (ATR) before being phased out. It is interesting to note that, whereas the 

synthetic target and scene generation techniques provided a reliable representation of scenes to 

the human observers, these techniques could not generate realistic scenes for ATR testing due to 

a wide discrepancy in false alarm rates. False alarm rate by ATR was always widely different 

between real and computer-generated scenes.F

50F This finding is another example of the unique 

perspective that a Service laboratory can bring as a neutral adjudicator for technologies. This 

discrepancy between synthetic scene generators with respect to false alarms would probably not 

be investigated by industry or academic scientists due to lack of a broader vision of validation of 

candidate synthetic scene generation techniques. 

17Be. 5V Li-ion Batteries 

The breakthrough 5 volt Li-ion batteries were first discovered through electrochemical models of 

the SEI interfaces (CTE41). New improvements in battery chemistry, energy density, lifetime, 

power, among others, are being addressed by model improvements with empirical validation 

generated from laboratory data conducted by ARL. ARL has this past year initiated a new Multiscale Modeling of Materials effort, which is a collaborative modeling activity that has become a 

key initiative in ARL’s Enterprise for Multi-scale Research of Materials, to investigate the 

transition of material modeling from the atomistic to continuum levels. Successful research from 

this activity will provide foundations for the White House’s Office of Science & Technology 

Policy Materials Genome Initiative. This new initiative is a unique opportunity to leverage 

academic theoretical modeling and government in-house experimental expertise and laboratories 

for expanding the scientific frontier in sensors and power and energy. 

This enterprise includes two Cooperative Research Agreements with academic research teams 

from several universities. One agreement on Multiscale/Multidisciplinary Modeling of Electronic 

Materials (MSME) involves a focus on electrochemical models that address the physics that 

were part of the Li-ion SEI success and will enhance the opportunities for further successes in 

 

48 Recognition of Combat Vehicles, Homepage, available at <https://rocv.army.mil/>. 

49 Bruce A. Weber and Joseph A. Penn, “Synthetic FLIR Signatures for Training and Testing Target Identification 

Classifiers,” Optical Engineering 43, no. 6 (June 1, 2004), 1414-1423. 50 C.P. Walters, C.W. Hoover Jr., and J.A. Ratches, “Performance of An ATR Algorithm against Real and Two 

Versions of Synthetic Imagery,” Optical Engineering 39, no. 8 (August 2000), 2279-2284. 
22 

similar battery architectures (CTE42). The MSME agreement is led by the University of Utah, in 

cooperation with Boston University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The research projects 

will be in interfacial physics and chemistry, nano-structures and solid-liquid interfaces. These are 

clear opportunities for batteries, capacitors, and fuel cells. A major identified goal is an increase 

in energy density by a factor of two. 

The MSME modeling effort is a prime example of the research leadership role that the Service 

laboratories can and do play. They can track, influence trends, and identify critical research areas 

that lack significant understanding and require a broad based academic investment to address 

them. The Service labs, such as ARL in the Army, maintain an in-depth and broad base of 

knowledge of where a modeling initiative is required in order to ignite a new or renewed thrust 

that could move a technology forward. The MSME investment by the Army S&T through the 

ARL is a prime example of such a recent and ongoing initiative that will enable unprecedented 

new materials to become available for Army capabilities. 

Activities of this sort are an example of a prime mechanism available to government laboratories 

that integrates academic expertise into the military S&T portfolio. An enormous technical asset 

resident in universities is the cadre of theoretical and experimental scientists that can be brought 

to bear to address major voids in scientific understanding that could enable new critical 

capabilities in military platforms. Collaborations, such as MSME, can add to a community with a 

different tool set into the partnership for addressing military problems. Also, the distribution of 

assets between theoretical and experimental disciplines can be redressed with judicious 

coalitions of service and academic organizations. 
23 

4BV. FINDINGS, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUDING REMARKS 

18BFindings 

We have identified 42 Critical Technology Events (CTE) in the development of these Army 

sensors. Appendix B shows the complete list of CTEs identified in this report. Also shown in this 

appendix is the origin or major player associated with the individual CTE: for example, 

Government Laboratory or Combined (government lab, industry and/or university). The 

distribution of CTEs for the sensor examples chosen are: 

• GPS-Guided Munitions — 16 

• Constant Hawk — 6 

• UTAMS — 3 

• Thermal Imaging — 12 

• 5V Li-ion Batteries — 5 

24 of the 42 CTEs reported were uniquely contributed by the in-house Army laboratories. 57 

percent of all the CTEs originated in the Army S&T laboratories. 

It follows that Army laboratories make significant technical and enabling contributions to Army 

platforms and capabilities. The performance of Army laboratories can be measured by the 

contributions to material developments that enable required platform characteristics, which are 

set by Program Executive Officers and Program Managers to meet established warfighting 

requirements. The laboratories define, generate, and demonstrate CTEs, which are the building 

blocks for the desired characteristics and capabilities. The evaluation of Army S&T in the 

laboratories must focus on the multidisciplinary subject matter expertise of staff and 

management that are known of and highly visible in the larger scientific community, a research 

environment conducive to research excellence, and a corporate gestalt that creates the 

environment which nourishes scientific élan. 

The Army S&T community of laboratories is uniquely suited to represent, defend, and guide the 

satisfaction of Army requirements. Academia and industry can never be entirely free of self 

interests. The Army laboratories owe and demonstrate total and complete allegiance to Army 

needs. 

Army laboratories have the people, infrastructure, and determination to satisfy evolving and 

established needs. 

The Army S&T community is the singular force in collaboration with industry and academia that 

ensures Army needs are optimally met in an effective, efficient, and affordable manner. 

19BDiscussion 

Reviewing the previous reports mentioned as Project Hindsight inspired, along with this present 

one, there are actions, attitudes, awareness, and understanding gained during S&T phases of 

development that can enable or enhance and inspire the occurrence of CTEs. If Army S&T 

laboratories continue to be sensitive to these enabling characteristics, their successes will 

continue and will be maximized. Such characteristics that can cultivate CTEs during S&T are: 

1. Foresight, and the incorporation of technical advances as they emerge during the S&T 

cycle. 
24 

2. Awareness of what others are doing, developing, or have in-hand for another problem 

that could help your system. 

3. New understanding gained from new experimental data or validated modeling results. 

4. Utilization of unique or national facilities and the intellectual talent outside of the 

performing laboratory, Service, or the United States. 

5. Design modifications that can occur during R&D programs that address particular 

identified shortcomings or vulnerabilities. 

6. Effective/efficient/enhanced transitions along the process of R&D and the system 

development cycle. 

7. Awareness and integration of the lessons learned from others. 

8. Pursuit of competing approaches. 

In comparing this report to the previous reports, this report is unique in that it discovered that 

CTEs resulted in two entirely new platforms: Constant Hawk and GPS-Guided Munitions. Both 

were significant investments in technologies that have enabled surveillance and forensics and fire 

control capabilities that heretofore were not envisioned. Thermal imaging sensors are not in 

themselves platforms but are critically important and ubiquitous to many Army platforms. The 

same is true of the 5V Li-ion battery technology, having significant impact on the individual 

soldier. UTAMS is a platform based on an older acoustic technology that was improved and 

applied to a new mission of remote fire detection and localization. 

This above discussion on the actions, attitudes, awareness, and understanding that are required of 

an S&T organization naturally leads to a discussion of how an S&T portfolio is evaluated to 

ensure ongoing and future relevance to Army needs. There are typically four characteristics of a 

research portfolio that need to be assessed in order to evaluate it: quality of the staff and the 

managers; relevance of the program; integration to/with the relevant technical community; and 

the ability to forecast technology developments. More details on these characteristics are 

discussed in the following paragraphs. 

Quality of Staff and Managers: The technical staff must have a normalized distribution of 

disciplines, advanced degrees and age, with a reasonable turnover rate. Quality people should be 

recruited. There should be some staff that are members of the National Academies, fellows of 

various scientific or engineering societies, recipients of outside awards and prizes, and 

invited/keynote speakers at prestigious technical conferences and symposia. There should be 

copious peer-reviewed papers with emphasis on peer-review competition for basic research 

funding in the organization. Patents and breakthroughs for the last 10 years should be assessed. 

The managers should have well-known technical reputations outside of the organization. There 

should be a corporate vision with commonality of goals across the whole organization and a 

relevance to the enterprise. The opinion of superiors should be high and funding levels should be 

sufficient and consistent. An ability to influence sponsors and funding is essential. There should 

be an in-place process for selection of investment in sub-fields, as well as an external review 

process. Administrative burden on the researchers should be minimal. Besides people, state-ofthe-art facilities and infrastructure are important. 

Relevance of Program: Programs must prove their relevancy by showing their impact on the 

warfighter over time, which needs to be substantiated by funding level and consistency. 
25 

Relevance to the enterprise is shown by alignment with Army mission and vision and transitions 

made to programs of record and/or Program Executive Offices. The program should be balanced 

between enhancements to technology versus extension, new challenges in existing areas, and 

new emerging areas. Programs with crosscutting technologies that could be relevant to other 

programs should be highlighted. There should be regular meetings with customers and 

stakeholders. 

Integration to/with Community: A Service laboratory needs to be aware of industrial Independent 

R&D. In-house Army STs should influence the technical program investment. Leveraging 

outside laboratory activities, including international, is necessary. A collaborative international 

technology alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom was recently cited as an 

example of such a productive leveraging of military laboratories, “Since 2006, an International 

Technology Alliance of industrial and academic organization from the US and UK, led by the 

U.S. Army Research laboratory and the U.K. Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, have 

been jointly conducting collaborative research to enhance information-sharing and distributed, 

secure, and flexible decision-making to improve networked coalition operations.”F

51F Peer review 

is essential, as is visibility by, and of, others. 

Tech Forecasting: Astute technical forecasting is essential to determine if the S&T assets are on 

the “right horse” for maximum impact. This should be a criterion and assessment process for 

researchers and their career advancement. The ability to adjust and avoid technical surprise is 

critical to survival and success on the battlefield. Specifications of research and process score 

cards are required. 

A more in-depth report on these factors, fundamentals, and metrics for S&T portfolio evaluation 

has been published. The Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP) at the 

National Defense University has prepared a report on how to evaluate the quality of S&T and 

what the appropriate metrics are. This was done at the request of the Army S&T Executive.F

52F 

20BConcluding Remarks 

Our previous technical reports on Abrams, Apache, and Stinger and Javelin, showed how the 

Army S&T community developed Critical Technology Events to support and enable the 

development of these critical weapons platforms. This report attempts to show that the S&T 

resources and processes are still in place and functioning in generating continued CTEs in the 

sensor and power area for the next generation of Army systems. It is critical to the Army’s 

mission to foster and nurture the Army’s in-house S&T tech base. 

Although, the Army tech base continues to contribute critical R&D to the next generation of 

Army systems, it is incumbent on the Army technical leadership to continually evaluate, nurture, 

and direct this tech base. The quality of the scientists and managers must be constantly appraised 

and cultivated with new professionals and laboratory infrastructure. Otherwise, eventually this 

enabling Army asset will wither and expire. Should that be allowed to happen, either the U.S. 

 

51 “Joint Fact Sheet: U.S.-UK Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Collaboration,” Press Release, The White 

House, March 14, 2012, available at <www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/14/joint-fact-sheet-us-ukhigher-education-science-and-innovation-collabora>. 

52 John Lyons, Richard Chait and James Ratches, Suggestions for Evaluating the Quality of the Army’s Science and 

Technology program: The Portfolio and Its Execution. Defense and Technology Paper 99 (Washington, DC: Center 

for Technology and National Security Policy, January 2013). 
26 

Army will lose its battlefield advantages, be at the mercy of profit-motivated commercial 

industry, or foreign sources. An initial attempt has been made in this report to indicate what 

characteristics are required of an Army S&T portfolio and organization in order to optimize S&T 

success. 
27 

5BAPPENDIX A. ACRONYMS 

AFRL – Air Force Research Laboratory 

AGC – Army Geospatial Center 

AMRDEC – Army Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center 

AMUS – Aero-Mounted UTAMS System 

APIX – MITLL viewer 

APMI – Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative 

APS – Auxiliary Persistent Sensor 

ARL – Army Research Laboratory 

ARL-SEDD – ARL Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate 

ARL-WMRD – ARL Weapons and Materials Research Directorate 

ARDEC – Armaments Research and Development Center 

ATACMS - Army Tactical Missile System 

ATO – Advanced Technology Objective 

ATR – aided/automatic target recognition 

B&W – black & white (for example, a camera) 

BAT – Brilliant Anti-Tank munition 

C4ISR – Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance & 

Reconnaissance 

CEP – Circular Error Probability 

CERDEC – Communications & Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center 

CH – Constant Hawk 

CONOPS – Concept of Operations 

CONUS – continental United States 

COTS – Commercial Off-the-Shelf 

C-QWIP – Corrugated Quantum Well Infrared Photodiode 

CRA – Cooperative Research Agreement 

CTA – Collaborative Technology Alliance 

CTE – Critical Technology Event 

CTNSP – Center for Technology and National Security Policy 

DDR&E – Director of Defense Research & Development 

DARPA – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 
28 

DMZ – Demilitarized Zone 

DOD – Department of Defense 

DTP – Defense & Technology Paper (products from CTNSP) 

E&M – electro-magnetic 

EAPS – Extended Area Protection Systems 

EO – Electro-optics (covers infrared portion of spectrum) 

FA – Field Artillery

FAR – false alarm rate 

FAST – Field Assistance for S&T 

FLIR – forward looking infrared 

FOB – forward operating base 

FOV – field of view (of a sensor) 

FPA – focal plane array (NxM array of pixels) 

GBU – Guided Bomb Unit 

GIS – Geospatial Information System 

GPS – Global Positioning System 

HPC – high performance computing 

I2 – image intensification 

IED – Improvised Explosive Device 

IRFPA – Infrared Focal Plane Array (DARPA producibility program) 

IMU – inertial mass unit 

INS – Inertial Navigation System

INSCOM – U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command 

IR – infrared (~ 0.4 to ~ 100 micrometers wavelength of E&M spectrum) 

ISR – intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance 

JDAM – Joint Direct Attack Munition

LCCM – Low Cost Competitive Munitions 

LIDAR – Light Detection & Ranging (also LADAR) 

LLNL – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 

LPE - Liquid Phase Epitaxy (IR material growth) 

LWIR – longwave infrared (8-14 micrometers spectral region) 

LRASS – Long Range Advanced Sensor Suite 

MASINT – Measurement and Signals Intelligence 
29 

MAST – Micro-Autonomous Systems Technology 

MCT – mercury cadmium telluride (IR detector material) 

MAWS – Miniature Acoustic Warning System 

MBE – Molecular Beam Epitaxy (material growth process) 

MEMS – micro-electromechanical systems 

MGK – Mortar Guidance Kit 

MITLL – MIT Lincoln Lab 

MLRS – multiple launch rocket system 

MOCVD – molecular-organo-chemical vapor deposition (IR detector growth technique) 

MMW – millimeter wave 

MRT/MRTD – Minimum Resolvable Temperature (Difference) 

MSME – Multiscale/Multidisciplinary Modeling of Electronic Materials 

MWAPS – MWIR Auxiliary Persistent Sensor 

MWIR – midwave infrared (3-5 micrometers spectral region) 

NDU – National Defense University 

NET – noise equivalent temperature 

NGA – National Geospatial Agency 

NGIC – National Geospatial Intelligence Center 

NIR – near infrared (~ 1 micrometer spectral region) 

NRL – Naval Research Laboratory 

NVESD – Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate 

OCONUS – outside continental United States 

OEF – Operation Enduring Freedom 

OIF – Operation Iraqi Freedom 

OSTP – Office of Science & Technology Policy (White House) 

PEO – Program Executive Officer 

PEO-STRI – Program Executive Officer for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation 

PGK – Precision Guided Kit 

PGSS – Persistent Ground Surveillance System 

PM – Program Manager (for a system) 

PM ARES – Project Manager Airborne Reconnaissance and Exploitation Systems 

PM CAS – Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems 

PM RUS – Project Manager, Remote Unattended Systems 
30 

POR – program of record 

PTDS – Persistent Threat Detection System

PUMA – Precision Urban Mortar Attack

QWIP – quantum well infrared photodiode 

R&D – Research and Development 

RAM – Rockets, Artillery & Mortars 

RDECOM – Research, Development and Engineering Command (under Army Material 

Command) 

RXD – Research and Exploratory Development (from Project Hindsight) 

REF – Rapid Equipping Force 

RISTA – Reconnaissance, Intelligence, Surveillance and Target Acquisition 

ROCV – Recognition of Combat Vehicles 

S&T – Science & Technology 

SAASM – Selective Availability Anti-spoofing Module 

SADARM – Sense and Destroy Armor (submunitions) 

SEDD – Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate (ARL) 

SEI – Surface Electrolyte-Interface 

SME – subject matter expert 

SOP – standard operating procedures 

TCDL – Tactical Command Data Link 

T2SL – Type 2 superlattice detector structure 

TDI – Time-Delay and Integrate (for a signal-to-noise) 

TRL – Technology Readiness Level 

TTP – Tactics, Techniques and Processes 

UAVs – Unmanned Air Vehicles 

UTAMS – Unattended Transient Acoustic/Artillery MASINT System 

VAP – Very Affordable Projectile 

VBIED – Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device 

WFOV – wide field of view 

WMRD – Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (ARL) 

WPAFL – Wright Patterson Air Force Laboratory Dayton, Ohio 

YPG – Yuma Proving Ground Arizona 
31 

6BAPPENDIX B. CTE SOURCES 

CTE Government Lab 

Combined University/ 

Industry/Lab 

1. “Screw on” GPS transponder X 

2. Use GPS translators for position of round at 

ground station 

 X 

3. Conical GPS antenna X 

4. Retrofit stockpile rounds w/fuses X 

5. 1st in-flight projectile tracking X 

6. Drag to correct for trajectory X 

7. GPS/MEMS inertial sensor w/lower CEP X 

8. VAP X 

9. Guidance by earth’s magnetic field X 

10. SAASM X 

11. MEMS fuzes X 

12. HPC modeling X 

13. MEMS sensors and Actuators X 

14. Reduced state guidance X 

15. Targeting technology X 

16. Ganging 6 sensors together X 

17. Composite stitched image X 

18. Camera with hybrid products X 

19. Registered 3D data X 

20. Image analysis algorithms X 

21. Mortar detection X 

22. Acoustics to cue imagers X 

23. Noise cancellation algorithms X 

24. Common Modules X 

25. MRT lab measurement X 

26. FLIR performance model X 

27. 2nd Gen FLIR X 

28. IRFPA X 

29. 3rd Gen FLIR X 

30. MCT on Si X 

31. T2SL X 

32. nBn detector structure X 

33. Uncooled IR X 

34. C-QWIPs X 

35. 5V Li-ion battery X 

36. SEI X 

37. HFiP X 

38. HPC GPS simulations X 
32 

CTE Government Lab 

Combined University/ 

Industry/Lab 

39. Processing algorithms for TB/hr. X 

40. Gunner sight simulator X 

41. SEI model X 

42. MSME CRA modeling initiative X 
33 

7BAPPENDIX C. INDIVIDUALS CONTACTED 

Last Name First Name Organization Status 

Choi K.K. ARL-SEDD CSE 

Doligalski Tom ARO CSE 

Dammann Jeff ARL-SEDD CSE 

Eicke John ARL-SEDD CSE 

Horley Gary ARL-HRED GR 

Ladas Andrew ARL-SEDD CSE 

Lundgren* Cynthia ARL-SEDD CSE 

Lyon Dave ARL-WMRD CSE 

Penn Joseph ARL-SEDD CSE 

Plostins* Peter ARL-WMRD CSE 

Pollard* John CERDEC NVESD GR 

Sicignano* Ray ARDEC CSE 

Reago Don CERDEC NVESD CSE 

Ruff* William ARL-SEDD CSE 

Tenney* Stephen ARL-SEDD CSE 

Toth* Susan ARL-SEDD CSE 

Government Retired GR 

Civil Service Employee CSE 

* Reviewed contributed relevant sections of report 
34 

8BAPPENDIX D. PROJECT HINDSIGHT

This study is modeled in part on a 1969 report, Project Hindsight. In 1965, the Director of 

Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E), Dr. Harold Brown, established a project to take a 

retrospective look at U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) investment in research and 

development (R&D), to evaluate the results, and to take stock of lessons learned. Brown’s 

overarching objectives for the study were to identify management factors that were associated 

with the utilization of the results produced by the Defense Department science and technology 

(S&T) program and to devise a methodology to measure the return on investment.F

53F He was 

motivated in part by the House of Representatives Committee on Defense Appropriations, which 

had questioned the efficiency of management and overall payoff for the part of Research, 

Development, Testing and Evaluation program that pertained to S&T.F

54F 

The study was conducted by ad hoc teams of military and civilian in-house personnel. Some 20 

weapons systems were selected for review and a set of subcommittees was arranged, one for 

each system. The systems selected for review included air-to-surface, ballistic, and tactical 

missiles; a strategic transport aircraft; a howitzer; and an antitank projectile. Data were gathered 

by questionnaire and evaluated according to four criteria:F

55F 

1. The extent of dependence on recent advances in science or technology. 

2. The proportion of any new technology that resulted from DOD financing of science or 

technology. 

3. The management or environmental factors that appear to correlate with high utilization of 

S&T results. 

4. A quantitative measure of the return on investment. 

The project teams make the following finding with respect to these four criteria:F

56

1. Markedly improved weapons systems result from skillfully combining a considerable 

number of scientific and technological advances (Criterion 1). 

2. More than 85 percent of the new science or technology utilized was the result of DODfinanced programs (Criterion 2). 

3. The utilization factor appears insensitive to environmental or management science and 

technology centers (Criterion 3). 

4. Most utilized new technological information was generated in the process of solving 

problems identified in advanced or engineering development (Criterion 3). 

5. Most utilized new fundamental scientific information came from organized research 

programs undertaken in response to recognized problems (Criterion 3). 

 

53 Harold Brown, Letter to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (R&D), the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (R&D), 

and the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (R&D), July 6, 1965, in, Project “Hindsight: Final Report”

(Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 1969), 135. 

54 Brown, Letter to the Assistant Secretary, in Project “Hindsight: Final Report,”135. 55 Project “Hindsight: Final Report,” xiii. 56 Project “Hindsight: Final Report,” xxi. 
35 

6. Technological inventiveness and the utilization rate are dependent on the recognition of a 

need, an educated talent pool, capital resources, and an adequate communication path to 

potential users (Criterion 3). 

7. Any crude approximation in measuring cost-performance will tend to be delusory 

(Criterion 4). 

With regard to finding number seven, the study failed to find a satisfactory method for assessing 

cost benefit or cost performance from S&T work. To illustrate the difficulty that the study 

encountered, the report cited the example of the silicon-based integrated circuit. The circuit, 

invented during the period under review, revolutionized electronics and information technology 

and became a crucial part of virtually every system in the arsenal; there was no effective way to 

subdivide the effects on individual S&T programs. 

This paper did not attempt to redress this or any other shortcoming of Project Hindsight; Dr. 

Brown’s goal of quantifying the payoff of DOD investment in research and technology is if 

anything a loftier target today than it was in 1965. The fundamental purpose of this report, 

however, closely mirrors that of its predecessors: by examining the development of select Army 

systems, and in particular those signal technology events that propel systems to success, we hope 

to shed light on the factors that lead defense S&T research to fruition. 

In addition to sharing a broad goal with the original Hindsight report, this paper also takes from 

it a similar unit of analysis, the CTE. Hindsight evaluations were based on a concept called a 

Research and Exploratory Development (RXD) Event. In that report, a RXD event has the 

predominant meaning of an event that “defines a scientific or engineering activity during a 

relatively brief period of time that includes the conception of a new idea and the initial 

demonstration of its feasibility.”F

57F There may be one or two such events in the development of a 

component or system, or a whole string of such events. In the case of basic research RXD events, 

the report distinguishes between undirected (i.e., curiosity-driven) and directed (i.e., problemdriven) work. Lastly, the final fabrication of the system component or device “may or may not 

involve an Event depending on the state of the technological art at the time of fabrication.”F

58F

Please note that our signal events, CTEs, differ from Hindsight’s RXD events. Most 

significantly, CTEs can occur at any point in the life cycle. We leave open the possibility that 

CTEs might result from efforts that have utilized funds other than R&D. 

 

57 Project “Hindsight: Final Report,” xiv. 58 Project “Hindsight: Final Report,” xiv.