2nd Infantry Division’s Soldiers test potential Army command post prototypes at Joint Base Lewis-McChord

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Washington — A potential Army Command Post prototype underwent operational testing during the annual Bayonet Focus Exercise here recently.

Soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team tried out the Command Post Integrated Infrastructure (CPI2) System gear while preparing for their upcoming National Training Center rotation.

2nd SBCT used the CPI2 vehicles as their sole Mission Command centers for the exercise duration, according to Ms. Marjorie Gill, Test Officer, with the Fort Hood, Texas-based Mission Command Test Directorate, U.S. Army Operational Test Command.

They also did a series of jump scenarios to demonstrate the CPI2 ability to be torn down, moved, and set up again quickly.

“Soldiers provided individual observations and opinions on how the system might be improved,” said Gill. “Any issues they had with the system and comments on how their organization might use the system as part of their CP were also invited.”

The CPI2 integrates capabilities on Mission Command Platforms (MCP) and Command Post Support Vehicles (CPSV), aligning with the Army’s Command Post (CP) efforts to enhance Brigade and higher echelons with Mission Command (MC) resources on any battlefield, she explained.

Currently, Army CPs at the higher commands are quite large and require a long period to set up and tear down, Shelby said.

“This all lends itself to limited survivability, maneuverability, and suitability with such a large footprint,” she said.

The CPI2 system’s goal is to use a combination of various vehicle platforms and shelter systems, which allow different levels of command posts the functionality needed while increasing survivability by being able to tear down and move locations fast, according to CPI2 Program Manager David Delgado.

“CPI2 integrates emerging technologies and capabilities with mobile mission command platforms and command post support vehicles for improved agility and survivability on the battlefield,” he said.

While the CPI2 program is in its infancy, the Product Office CPI2 is designing the CPI2 system in two increments.

The current test was part of Increment 0. Delgado said, “This increment involves multiple phases of prototyping, integration, and follow-on formal design decisions resulting in the fielding of a standardized CPI2 command post to 5 different Brigade Combat Team (BCT) configurations as part of Capability Set (CS) 23.”

Army Capability Sets are the Army’s plan to ensure the force keeps pace with advancements in network technology and the ability to deliver a modernized tactical network to Soldiers to achieve all-domain dominance over time, he explained.

“Army Evaluation Command (AEC) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland will use these data points to determine effectiveness, suitability, and survivability of CPI2,” said Capt. Douglas Jordan, AEC Effectiveness Evaluator.

Delgado said with the current assessment complete the Army will conduct further tests to balance technical maturity, integration of design, operational relevance, and affordability for a final design decision during early 2022.

“Production on the selected system will begin in FY22 for fielding in FY23,” he said.

The next phases of testing, according to DelGado, will involve units different from 2nd SBCT, so the Army gains a better perspective of how the current system design will support command post operations of the various units in today’s Army.

Via www.army.mil 

Here is the Point Blank Enterprises, Inc. OMFV concept

 United States Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal has awarded Point Blank Enterprises, Inc. Contract for Concept Design for the U.S. Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) Program.

MIAMI LAKES, Fla., July 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal has awarded Point Blank Enterprises, Inc. (PBE) business unit, The Protective Group (TPG) a $60.6M Firm Fixed Price Contract for Phase 2, Concept Design for the U.S. Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) Program. The OMFV is planned to be an important weapon system platform in the Army’s Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs) and is part of the larger Next Generation Combat Vehicle Family of Combat Vehicles. The OMFV concept is envisioned to encompass future capabilities and basic operational requirements including: scalable survivability and protection, remotely controllable, preplanned growth to easily integrate future capabilities, embedded platform training, and decisive battlefield lethality. The Army plans for the first OMFV delivery in the fourth quarter of FY2028 for final testing with a final Full Rate Production (FRP) decision in the third quarter of FY2029.

Mark Edwards, Executive Vice President for Point Blank Enterprises said, “We are honored to be selected to participate in this essential Army combat vehicle program. We have assembled a diverse industry team that, like Point Blank, is fully committed to providing the most advanced and reliable products to our men and women in uniform. This award reaffirms our ability to assemble and manage diverse technical teams performing complex and innovative collaborative design engineering programs. Our OMFV design concept will not be constrained or limited by previous design engineering approaches or technologies that produced the last generation of combat vehicles. Innovative engineering solutions and continuously integrating improvements into our product designs are in our DNA, both of which are key to this phase of the OMFV program.”

For nearly 50 years, Point Blank Enterprises, Inc. has been a leading provider of threat protection products engineered to maximize user survivability.

Hungarian T-55 Live Fire Tests

The articles cover the results of live fire tests conducted by the Hungarian People’s Army in 1989.

 The weapons tested were: 

- RPG-7 w/ PG-7V HEAT 

- SPG-9 recoilless rifle w/ PG-9V HEAT 

- 100mm MT-12 anti-tank gun w/ UBK-2 HEAT

- 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika SPH w/ 3VBK-9 HEAT

- 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya SPH w/ 3VBP-2 HEAT

- T-55AM tank w/ 100mm BR-412M APHE

- T-72 tank w/ 125mm 3BK-14M HEAT

- 9P133 Malyutka w/ 9M14P1 ATGM

- 9K111-2 Fagot ATGM

- 9P148 Konkurs w/ 9M113 ATGM

- UKA-63 AT mine (Not translated)

- GYATA-64 AP mine (Not translated)

- MON-200 side attack mine (Not translated)

The BMP-1’s 2A68 Grom w/ PG-15V was not tested due to it being functionally identical to the SPG-9 firing PG-9V.

Target vehicles: Decommissioned T-54 and T-54B tanks from a recently disbanded HPA unit. The tanks were in perfect working order before the tests.

In order to make the tests more realistic, the crew were simulated by 25-30cm thick logs covered in tanker uniforms. The fuel tanks and lines were filled with water, the batteries replaced with defective tank batteries, and ammunition was replaced by inert training rounds. The shells were filled with concrete and the warheads made of wood to simulate the weight of real ammunition. Other working fluids such as hydraulic fluid, engine oil, and other lubricants were kept in the vehicles.

Note: There was a film crew present to document the results. The resulting material was edited to make training films for new conscripts, but after a few screenings it was no longer shown because of the severe effect on morale.

AMPV tests in YPG

The recently-developed Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) incorporates a long list of upgrades that make it significantly more advanced than its predecessor, the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier.

Currently, multiple AMPVs are undergoing reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) testing at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), with each running many miles of simulated missions across road courses featuring various terrain conditions, from paved to gravel to punishing desert washboard that would severely rattle less robust vehicles. As they traverse these courses, test vehicle operators continually verify performance of all the platform’s sophisticated electronics. Earlier tests verified the vehicle’s braking, acceleration, and steering performance on slopes and steep grades, and even through a fording basin and on a dust course tilled for maximum sediment. 

In addition to the hundreds of miles of road courses, YPG has the range space to conduct live function fire tests of the vehicle from both stationary and moving positions, and utilizes this capability as part of the AMPV testing to test the vehicle’s 7.62 mm and 12.7 mm machine guns.

Via YPG

52 years of Apollo 11 mission

52 years ago, in July 20 1969, humans touched down on extraterrestrial land for the first time. Humanity’s mobility on the moon was made possible in part by YPG testing: in 1966, the Mobility Test Article (MTA), a precursor to the lunar rover, came to the proving ground for engineer design evaluations.

Here is the some nice pictures of lunar vehicles, released by YPG.