By Marina Malenic
The Army’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program’s five critical technologies are fully mature ahead of a scheduled Critical Design Review (CDR) in August, congressional auditors said in a report released last week.
“According to program officials, both the Launcher Electronics and the Tactical Exciter have made significant progress since program inception,” a report prepared by the Government Accountability Office says.
The first Tactical Exciter was delivered in late fiscal year 2009 and has already started integration in Germany into the Multifunction Fire Control Radar system, according to GAO.
A multinational joint venture headquartered in Orlando, Fla., MEADS International‘s participating companies are MBDA in Italy, LFK in Germany and Lockheed Martin [LMT] in the United States. The United States funds 58 percent of the program, and European partners Germany and Italy provide 25 percent and 17 percent, respectively, as partners in the NATO Medium Extended Air Defense System Management Organization.
“The program office expects the system’s design to be stable by its August 2010 system level design review,” the GAO report states.
The partner nations last year agreed to extend the program’s design and development phase by 18 months due in part to issues with Battle Management Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence and sensor requirements and an underestimation of the sensor development effort. This schedule extension includes an 11-month delay in the system level critical design review from October 2009 to August 2010.
“Due to the schedule extension, the program will need to be rebaselined,” the GAO report says. “Program officials stated that the cost increase associated with the schedule extension would be shared among the three member nations.”
Part of the program extension also includes breaking the program into two phases–a critical design review phase and a postcritical design review phase. According to GAO, this was done primarily to allow the member nations to minimize their liability if they decide not to continue with the program after the critical design review.
“The planned schedule extension reduces program risk, facilitates added integration activities, and facilitates successful CDR completion,” the report states.
However, cost growth continues to be a concern for the Army, GAO acknowledged. Pentagon officials last month reiterated their commitment to MEADS, despite a recently leaked Army memo expressing renewed concerns that requirements for MEADS, formulated in 1999, do not address emerging threats (Defense Daily, March 23). The Army advocates harvesting MEADS technologies and improving the Patriot program it was designed to replace (Defense Daily, Feb. 25).
Last year, the program was given the go-ahead for production of a test system after the three countries considered and rejected the option of terminating the effort. MEADS last year completed a series of reviews of all its major components and began production of radars, launchers, tactical operation centers and reloaders needed for system tests at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
The program is progressing in accordance with a revised schedule toward CDR in August, Lockheed Martin officials have said. The current schedule is based on a mutually agreed plan by top Pentagon weapons buyer Ashton Carter and his German and Italian counterparts in an amended memorandum of understanding that addresses cost increases and schedule delays late last year.
MEADS is a mobile system that is expected to replace Patriot in the United States, the Nike Hercules in Italy and both the Hawk and Patriot systems in Germany. It was designed for interoperability among the three allies and to provide 360-degree coverage for troops against tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft.