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Show Serving Moab and Grand County. Utah "Heart of the Canyonlands" 7 Moab, Grand County, Utah 84532-Thursday, April 12, 1972 Nun A 20 round schedule is being planned for the spring J series of off-range firings of IPershing missiles from Green I River, Utah to White Sands I Missile Range, U. S. Army I officials have announced. The [series will begin next week. The two-stage missiles will be fired in April, May and I June. Participating agencies I have been making plans for I the series since late last fall. Three rounds are schedul-led in April, five in May and " 12 in June. All of the firings will j» supported by members of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, from Ft. Sill, Okla., who will fire the first round in the series during the week of April 16 As the series continues, 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 wiH be fired by elements of the Federal -Republic of '.Germany Air Force. The series is scheduled for completion during the week of June 25. The 3rd Battalion, which will be encamped with about 400 men at the White Sands Missile Range's Utah Launch Complex at Green River, provides technical and administrative support for all Per-shing firing operations. Other participants include U. S. Army Test and Evaluation Command elements Of White Sands Missile Range, the -Pershing Project Manager's Office of the U. S. Army iMissile Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., and the U S Army Field Artillery Missile j Systems Evaluation Group of r t. Sill. Also on hand will be rep-Jresentatives of the Martin f gContniued on Page A5 - Pershing Firing Tests ^^^^^^^^H^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^H^^^^H^^H^H^^^^^H Start Next Week Continued from Page 1 Marietta Corp., Orlando, Fla., prime contractor for Pershing Missiles. ; 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 of White Sands. 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-lA-Improved model programmer test station. 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, the newer models incorporate a new- --^-^---^------ >-^^^^^^^^^*m^^^^^m ly designed guidance and control section .The U-lA-Irn-control section. The U-lA-Im-the first time in the 1971 fail 'series, conducted last September and October from Mc-Gregcr Range near El Paso, Tex. 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, '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 U-1A firings will b* James F. Conner of PPMO, a resident, of Huntsville, Ala., and a veteran of the Pershing off-range firing program. The test director since 1962, one year ' before off-range firings began, he has never missed an off-range firing of a Pershing 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 firings1 until they are placed on firing alert status, a few hours before launch time. Since the off-range program began in the fall of 1963, some 150 'Perishing missiles have been fired from off-range sites to impact on White Sands Missile Range. Pershings have been launched from Gil-son Butte, near Hanksville, and Black Mesa, near Elan-ding, as well as from Green River, all in Utah, Persnimgs 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 deployed with U. S. and NATO 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 thousand pounds at launcli. The inertially guided solid-propellant ballistic missile travels . at supersonic speeds an dis capable of operating in any weather conditions. |