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Show general use, raaars ana optic systems include both mobile and fixed systems. A timing system provides fixed timing rates, elapsed time and control signals. Control signals are combined into pulsed signals in standard format for distribution and utilization. Other range services include calibration, communication, meteorological, photographic, television and aerial target support along with the relatively easy and fast recovery of test items which facilitates evaluation. Laboratory testing facilities are modern and varied. They include nuclear environments, weapon systems simulation, guidance and control, propulsion, climatic, microbiological and met tallographic. To meet the spectrum of requirements set up by the various range users for their increasingly complex test programs, WSMR has developed broad instrumentation capabilities and operational techniques. In addition to real-time and deferred-time, capabilities^ include simultaneous testing and ARTRAC (Advanced Range Testing, Reporting and Control), measurements of trajectory, attitude and events, vehicle electromagnetic signature, and re-entry phenomena. Directorates and offices Towards accomplishing missions prescribed by the Department of Defense and Department of the Army, WSMR is divided into various directorates, administrative and support offices. Among WSMR's major directorates are National Range Operations Directorate (NRO), Army Missile Test and Evaluation (ARMTE), Instrumentation Directorate (ID) and Army Air Operations (AA). National Range Operations National Range Operations plans and executes national range missions. The director of NRO directr operation of the range and support activities such as Data Collection Division, Analysis and Computation, Range Services and Communications. Staff offices of NRO provide direction and control of range scheduling and operations, technical planning and overall programming, evaluation of operations and performance, and the utilization of resources. ARMTE _ ARMTE is the testing arm of WSMR. it provides field and laboratory testing and evaluation of Army missile systems and materiels. The various ARMTE divisions conduct extensive laboratory flight tests of Army missile systems, rockets, warheads, special weapons and other materiels, and perform other tests as requested by range users on a non-interference, reimbursable basis. Instrumentation Directorate Instrumentation Directorate determines future range instrumentation needs and is responsible for the development of new systems needed to meet requirements. ID also modernizes existing instrumentation systems to meet the customer's needs, determines priorities relative to range instrumentation, development and procurement, and plans associates fiscal programs. Army Air Operations Army Air Operations Directorate provides aerial reconnaissance, aerial recovery and administrative flight support for WSMR. Tenant Organizations Sharing White Sands Missile Range and the many of its facilities are several tenant organizations. Among the major tenants are the Naval Ordnance Missile Test Facility (NOMTF), Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory (ASL) of U.S. Army Electronic Command, U.S. Army Safeguard Systems Evaluation Agency (SAFSEA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Air Force Inland Field Office of Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) and the Air Force Range Operations _Qffice (AFSWC). Navy facility NOMTF is the land-locked arm of the U.S. Navy's missile development agency. It is headed by a Navy captain who is deputy to WSMR's commanding general. The Navy was a co-worker with the Army on the German V-2 missile program in early 1946. Later the NOMTF began on its own missile course. Among Navy systems tested on the range were the Viking and Aerobee upper atmosphere research rockets, the Talos, Tartar, Terrier and Standard surface-to-air missiles. The Viking was a prime part of America's Vanguard program. Today at its "USS Desert Ship" NOMTF tests new and more modern versions of such missiles as the Standard and various new radar systems. From probes into space, NOMTF provides vital solar and stellar data for Air Force, NASA, Naval Research Laboratory and other government agency programs. The Aerobee family of sounding rockets is used in collecting scientific data from space. NOMTF with its Desert Ship, is among the leading weapon research branches of the Sea Service. ASL ASL activities at WSMR date back to 1946 when, as an agent of the Army Signal Corps, it provided radar and communications support for the German V-2 program. Later, as the Signal Missile Support Agency (SMSA), it built and installed WSMR's vast communication network. During the reorganization of the Army in 1962, SMSA became the Electronics Research and Development Activity (ERDA) at WSMR, and then, in late 1970, it was redesignated as the At7 mospheric Sciences Laborator, USAECOM. ASL has a dual mission at WSMR. It provides meteorological research and it provides other types of meteorological support for Army Research Development Test and Evaluation activities. In accomplishing these functions, ASL conducts research into environmental sciences with particular emphasis on earth's lower and upper at-mospher, atmospheric modifications, and remote sensing techniques as well as the development of meteorological equipment for the field Army. Operating with ASL at WSMR is the Missile Electronic Warfare Technical Area (MEWTA), a subordinate element of the U.S. Army Electronics Command Electronic Warfare Laboratory* located at Ft. Monmouth, N.J. Since 1952, MEWTA, formerly Electronic Warfare Division of White Sands Signal Corps Agency, has been engaged in vulnerability analysis of U.S. Army missile systems. SAFSEA SAFSEA is an outgrowth of some 12 years of anti-ballistic missile (ABM) evaluation effort. Beginning with the Nike Zeus project, the agency evolved through the Nike-X and Sentinel systems to the time in March 1969 when President Nixon announced the decision to field a new ballistic missile defense system called "Safeguard." SAFSEA's function is to provide a single organization fdr evaluating the components, subcomponents and overall effectiveness of the Safeguard anti-baFistic missile system. SAFSEA accomplishes this evaluation independently of the Safeguard System Command ] (SAFSCOM), its contractor organizations and other par-i ticipating agencies. The Agency informs the Safeguard System manager and responsible participating agencies of any indication of system deficiencies, where the deficiencies exist, and advises as to possible cause and significance to mission effectiveness. NASA NASA is among the newest I tenants of WSMR. The first Little Joe test-flight of the moon-shot program that put man on the moon and returned him in 1969, was made on the WSMR range. Apollo Program testing at the range included the spacecraft's launch escape system and the propulsion engine development for the service module and the lunar excursion module. Other major NASA testing at its WSMR site included Apollo radar, Gemini laser, parachute air-drop and Surveyor support. More recently NASA has conducted tests on the Space Shuttle vehicle using a one-tenth scaled model. WSMR also provided instrumentation support for NASA's Projec; Mercury and Gemini space flights. Most of these activities were conducted from NASA's multi-million dollar plant on the west boundary of the range with instrumentation support provided by WSMR. Air Force activities Air Force activities at White Sands Missile Range come generally under one of two Air Force tenant organizations. They are the Inland Range Field Office, Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO), and the Range Operations Office, Air Force Special Weapons Center (AFSWC). Both are activities of the Air Force Systems Command. Inland Range Field Office (SAMSO) came to the national missile range in early 1960s to conduct studies on re-entry physics phenomena. In the program, Athena research vehicles are launched from a site near Green River, Utah, and impact on White Sands range almost 500 miles away. ,^2^0 « ! * « * | -o- c n;<descri>general use, raaars ana optic systems include both mobile and fixed systems. A timing system provides fixed timing rates, elapsed time and control signals. Control signals are combined into pulsed signals in standard format f |
