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5 Survivability and Lethality Analysis Directorate
Pages 54-68

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From page 54...
... . The SLAD portfolio consists of many small T&E programs directly related to the assessment of specific Army components, with several larger programs aimed at developing tools necessary to enhance T&E efforts and to broaden the scope of the SLAD contribution to Army system life-cycle assessment.
From page 55...
... CHANGES SINCE THE PREVIOUS REVIEW The SLAD portfolio and evaluation structure are based strongly in the directorate's long history of critically important and successful ballistics-based vulnerability assessment, which has supported the Army testing and evaluation activities. SLAD has continued to broaden its program base to include the assessment of the vulnerability of communications, networks, and information processing on the battlefield.
From page 56...
... Some examples of recent projects include the work on underbody blast effects and the work on ballistic impacts on helmets. The development of underbody blast methodology is well thought out and is commendable for fill ing a critical need in this area.
From page 57...
... The work on ballistic impacts on helmets is a good example of solid engineering using wellestablished principles to improve test standards. This program provides an excellent opportunity to collaborate with outside experts to define and conduct further research efforts in this area.
From page 58...
... Internal SLAD reviews for the funding of future projects require a serious con sideration of opportunities for in-depth external collaboration, and periodic reviews should be made to ensure that those opportunities have been exploited. Laboratory Facilities The laboratory tours during this review period clearly demonstrated the high level of enthusiasm of the personnel who have access to the numerous SLAD state-of-the-art facilities.
From page 59...
... -CAD project should receive support to continue its progress in the area of CAD data conversion. The major technical gap in this area, with the largest potential payoff for support to current operations, is in the predictive modeling of underbody blast.
From page 60...
... , providing enhanced capabilities for analysis and decision making. Warfighter Survivability The Experimental Techniques for Helmet Testing Program provides an excellent opportunity for SLAD to collaborate with outside experts to define and conduct further research to characterize fully all of the variables that might be important in the analysis of test results.
From page 61...
... Both the helmet testing and armor testing are very solid efforts, but there is much more room for defining research programs around these projects. Active Protection Technology The Army and its contractors are developing active protection system technologies to augment the armor protection on combat vehicles.
From page 62...
... The problem context for SoSA has not been clearly presented. The program description gives the impression that SLAD is taking on the SoS analysis problem in general, rather than tactical engagement problems at the Army brigade level and below, and perhaps even more narrowly, utilization of Future Combat Systems.
From page 63...
... In this manner SLAD can develop confidence in its tooldevelopment methodology before committing vast resources to this effort. Once SLAD has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of its methodology, it can work toward expanding the tool set to perform analyses of a broader range of systems, subsystems, and threats.
From page 64...
... • Information assurance is not treated strongly enough in the current cyberthreat environment . There is concern that insufficient priority is being given to SLAD's information assurance practice, given the current cyberthreat environment.
From page 65...
... If these points had been made upfront and put into the Army tactical engagement context, they would have served to guide the SLAD staff better in their SoSA characterizations and in focusing their work. They are useful points to keep in mind as one develops an SLAD SoSA approach, but that approach either does not yet exist or was never articulated.
From page 66...
... For an initia tive of such ambition, a star technical leader would be invaluable for leading and coordinating a wide variety of supporting technical work and for representing the program to Army clients, leadership, and external reviews such as the one performed by this panel. OVERALL TECHNICAL QUALITY OF THE WORK The charge of the Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board includes assessing the technical merit of the work performed in each of the ARL directorates against that of leading federal, university, and/or industrial laboratories both nationally and internationally.
From page 67...
... The SLAD portfolio and evaluation structure are based strongly in the directorate's long history of ballistics-based vulnerability assessment. It is commend able that SLAD has broadened its program base to include assessment of communication, network, and information-processing vulnerability on the battlefield; nonetheless, the efficacy of the SLAD tool development methodology may not be sufficient to identify and stay ahead of the rapidly emerging threats to network-centric warfare in an irregular battlefield environment.
From page 68...
... SLAD should work with its contractors to define DARPA-funded survivability programs. The Survivability and Lethality Analysis Directorate provides sound support of the assessment and evaluation of the survivability, lethality, and vulnerability of Army equipment and soldier systems to ensure that soldiers and systems can survive and function reliably in the full spectrum of battlefield environments.


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