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Show White Sands Missile Range^ NewJAexic Friday, February 78, 1972 •-...-- .. . Plan Pershing series by -C.R. Poisall A 20-round schedule is being planned for the spring series of off-range firings of Pershing missiles from Green River, Utah, to White Sands Missile Range, U.S. Army officials have announced. , The two-slage missiles will be fired in April, May and June. Participating agencies have been making plans for the series since late last fall. Three rounds are scheduled in April, five in May and 12 in June. All of the firings will be supported by members of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, from Ft. Sill, Okla., who also will fire the first round in the series during the week of April 16. As the series contines, 15 rounds will be fired by units of the Seventh U.S. Army, returning for annual service practice firings from stations in Europe. Four rounds will be fired by elements of the Federal Republic of Germany Air Force. The series is scheduled for completion during the week of June 25. prime contractor for Pershing jnissiles. The first four rounds in the series will be part of a product improvement program conducted for TECOM by Army Missile Test and Evaluation Directorate (ARMTE) of WSMR. Technical test director for this four-round program will be Paul K. Arthur of ARMTE. The first round, to be fired by the 3rd Battalion, will be a P-l model Pershing, using a P-1A-Improved model programmer test station (PTS). The other three rounds in the product improvement program, to be fired by Seventh Army units from Europe, will be the newer P-lA-Improved type rounds. In addition to improvements in the power station (PS), the newer models incorporate a newly designed guidance and control section. The P-1A-Improved models were fired for the first time in the 1971 fall series, conducted last September and October from McGregor Range near El Paso. The other 16 rounds in the spring series will be P-1A models. After eight firings by Seventh Army units in the program designated Follow-on Operational Tests (FOT), four rounds will be fired by German units. Then the series will be concluded with four more FOT rounds fired by Seventh Army units. Technical test director for the 16 P-1A firings will be James F. Conner of PPMO, a resident of Huntsville, Ala., and a veteran of the Pershing off-range firing program. Test director since 1962, one year before off-range firings began, he has never missed an off-ranee firing of a_Persjung, missile. In the FOT program, firing operations will be conducted under simulated tactical conditions. Firing units will not be advised of the exact dates and times for their firings until they are placed on firing alert status (FAS), a few hours before launch time. Since the off-range program began in the fall of 1963, some 150 Pershing missiles have been fired from off-range sites to impact on White Sands Missile Range. Pershings have been launched from Gilson Butte, near Hanksville, and Black Mesa, near Blanding, as well as from Green River, all in Utah. Pershings also have been launched from Ft. Wingate, Hueco Range and McGregor Range in New Mexico. The Pershing has a range of up to 400 miles and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It has been operational since 1963 and is developed with U.S. and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) defense forces in Europe. Most powerful of the U.S Army's operational missile weapon systems, the Pershing is 35 feet long, 40 inches in diameter and weighs 10,000 pounds at launch. The iner-tially guided, solid-propellant ballistic missile travels at supersonic speed and is capable of operating in any weather conditions. Jt%-C_ __ The Salt Lake'Tribune, Friday, Febraarj 18, 1972 Army Prepares to Fire 20 Pershing Missiles • • '. " C7 ,.. ...... . .. WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (AP) - Twent- • y Pershing missiles will be fired this spring from Green River, Utah, to the White Sands missile range, the Army announced Thursady. The two-stage imssiles will be fired in April, May and June, with technical support supplied by the 3rd Battalion, 9th Field Aritllery from Ft. Sill, Okla., Army officials aid. The first round will be fired during the week of April 16. , Since the program began in 1963, 150 pershing missiles have been fired over the 400-mile rouet from southeast Utah to southeast New Mexico, and from launch sties at Ft. Wingate, Hueco Range and McGregor Range in New Mexico. The Pershing, which travels at supersonic speeds and weighs 10,000 pounds at launch, is capable of carrying a nuclear . warhead. It is deployed with U.S. and NATO forces in Europe. |