Smart munitions: Army to curtail procurement of precision-guided weapons.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: UPFRONT

The Army needs to reevaluate its precision-guided munitions programs, and identify which of its current weapons should continue to receive funding, says Maj. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sorenson.

"In many cases, everything we became enamored of, we can't play with because we can't afford it," Sorenson, the Army's deputy for acquisition and systems management, told a recent industry conference of the Precision Strike Association.

Precision-guided munitions manufacturers should be perceptive enough to see that the market is heading for a downturn, Sorenson said. Just six years ago, only one of the Army's top 10 procurement programs, the Javelin antitank missile--was a precision-guided weapon. Today, no precision weapons remain on the list, says Sorenson. "That should give you an indication of the things the Army is struggling to pay for."

The Defense Department's decision last year to cancel the Army-Navy "joint common missile" should be seen as a warning sign, he says. "It was a great program that was doing well." But when Pentagon planners realized the Army still had large inventories of Hellfire and TOW missiles, they concluded that the services could do without the joint common missile.

The Army needs to set priorities based on sound analysis of what the force really needs and what the service can realistically afford, says Sorenson.

"We in the Army are due for a major review of our precision weapons portfolio," he says. "It needs a complete scrub from top to bottom."

In his remarks, Sorenson did not make mention of an existing study, known as the "precision munitions mix analysis," which has been in the works for nearly three years at the Army Training and Doctrine Command. Industry representatives attending the conference speculated that Sorenson's failure to mention the study is significant, and points to the chronic disconnect between Army requirements analysts and budget planners.

"We have to get really serious about what we want and what we need," Sorenson says.

Feedback from frontline commanders points to growing needs for precision-guided cannon artillery rounds but weakening demand for missile artillery, he says.

Smart munitions require a different way of thinking and planning missions, Sorenson says. The Excalibur satellite-guided projectile is an example of a weapon that commanders in the field would like to have, but its price tag--estimated at $50,000 or more per shell--means that not too many will be fired in a single engagement. Added...