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Show THE WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGER Published in the interest of the personnel of White Sands Missile Ranee White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico PLAN FIRST PERSHING FIRING AT McGREGOR by C. R. POISALL An improved version of the Pershing artillery ballistic missile will befiredforthefirsttimeby U. S. Army troop units during the fall series of off-range fir ings, scheduled in September and October. Also for the first time, the fir ings will be conducted from McGregor Range, a Ft. Bliss activity southeast of White Sands Missile Range. The missiles will be programmed to impact in the northern part of the White Sands range. Since the Pershing off-range program began in 1963, missiles have been fired from Ft. Wingate in the Gallup area; from three different launch sites in Utah, and from the Hueco Range south of WSMR. For the fall series, the missiles will be of a new model designated P-lA-Improved. They will incorporate a newly designed guidance and control section in the missile and a new and improved power station in the ground support system. Five rounds will be fired in the series, starting with one round during the week of Sept. 19. The series will be scheduled to end during the week of Oct. 24. Firing the first two rounds will be batteries of the 2nd Battalion, 44th Artillery, 9th Field Artillery (Missile) Group, of Ft. Sill, Okla. Activated in 1963 as the U. S. Army's first Pershing unit, the 2nd Battalion provides support services to all other units firing missiles in the Pershing off-range program. The second round will be fired by the 2nd Battalion during the week of Sept. 26. Elements of the Europe-based Seventh U. S. Army will fire the final three rounds, with one scheduled each week during the weeks of Oct. 10,17 and 24. The firings will serve a multi-purpose. In addition to serving as annual service practice for the fir ing units, which are graded on their performance by an evaluation team, the five rounds will be incentive firings under the Contractors' Engineering Design Tests as directed by the Pershing Project Manager's Office (PPMO) of the U. S. Army Missile Command, Red-stone Arsenal, Ala. Data also will be collected during the fir ings to independently evaluate the performance of the new guidance and control section and power station, as well as other components and the entire system in its new configuration. This will represent Phase I of the U. S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (TECOM) Pershing-lA Product Improvement Test Program. This program is a responsibility of TECOM, immediate higher headquarters of WSMR. It will beconductedby elements of WSMR's Army Missile Test and Evaluation Directorate (ARMTE), in cooperation with the other participating agencies. In ARMTE, the tests will be under the General Support Artillery Project Branch headed by Thomas E. James on. ARMTE project engineer is Paul K. Arthur. Coordinator at McGregor Range will be W. E. Worthy of the ARMTE General Support Weapon Systems Test Section. Chief of this section if F. J. Kitchen. Other WSMR organizations support the program. Perjhing project engineer for National Range Operations Directorate (NRO) is Keith E. Floren. Site commander at McGregor Range is Lee Woodard, also of NRO. Several non-WSMR organizations also support the firing program. In addition to PPMO, these include the U. S. Army Field Artillery Missile Systems Evaluation Group (FAMSEG) of Ft. Sill and the Mar tin Marietta Corp. of Orlando, Fla., prime contractor for Pershing missiles. The Missile Command is the developer of Army missile weapon systems. Technical director for PPMO at McGregor Ranga will be James F. Conner of Huntsville, Ala., who has held this josition since 1962 and has yet to miss a Pershing firing. Martin Marietta representatives will be headed by Paul Willij. Coordinator for ARMTE participation in the contractor tests will be John Bayer. In the spring series this year, Pershing-1A missiles were fired <:rom Green River, Utah. In 1970, all firings were from Black Mesa, near Blanding, Utah. ?ershing-l missiles have been fired from Ft. Wingate, N. M., md from Gilson Butte, near Hanksville, Utah. The first P-1A iHssiles, incorporating new ground support equipment, were find from Hueco Range in 1968. Tte two-stage Pershing has a range of up to 400 miles and is capble of carrying a nuclear warhead. The system has been operaional since 1963. It is deployed with Seventh U. S. Army units, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense fores in Europe. |