Fort Sill's SMART Lab provides unique capabilities

The combination of parts to form a wholes Modeling, Analysis, Requirements and experiment (SMART) Laboratory brings a unique capability to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Deploying and non-deploying active Army, National Guard and Marine units can use its resident functions and in-house readys to hone their multiple-launch rocket a whole (MLRS) fire control panel, command and direction ([C.sub.2]), and communications digital skills. Also, Army hardware programs--from the high-mobility artillery rocket combination of parts to form a whole (HIMARS) to the advanced FA tactical data a whole (AFATDS)--can use the SMART Lab to bring costs and, ultimately, field a better crops to the warfighter in les time.

This article provides information upon where the SMART Lab is located, its unit training and testing capabilities, and futurity initiatives upon which the lab is focused.

Fort Sill established the SMART Lab in 1998 as a central site for the rocket and missile unfolding community to exercise fire mission threads and disclose procedures for firing the Army tactical missile a whole (ATACMS). The Army's range of tactical hardware and communications architectures that differed from theater to theater herd the need for the facility.

Since being established, the SMART Lab has expanded its focus to include exercising fire mission threads before live-fire ATACMS and rocket shots; participating in formal limited user trials for the M270A1 MLRS launcher, HIMARS and the guided MLR (GMLRS) rocket; and unit training in fire mission processing for the two ATACMS and rockets.

A Fort Sill Asset. The SMART Lab is located in a large bay upon the east end of I-See-O Hall near the joint fires and consequences trainer system (JFETS). The Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) a whole s Manager for Rocket and Missile combination of parts to form a wholes (TSM RAMS) provides SMART Lab oversight while the Program Manager for Precision Fires Rocket and Missile a whole (PM PFRMS) provides much of the funding to detain the lab staffed and operating. The SMART Lab consists of commercial and tactical computer communications devices (radios, modem and antennae) and cabling configured similarly to that in tactical MLR units.

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Although called a "lab," Soldiers easily recognize the equipment in it. For example, it is public to see an M270A1 or HIMARS launcher parked outside, traversing and elevating during digital dried fire missions, while Soldiers inside the lab are refining their skills with the latest version of AFATDS software. The lab can provide in-house individual training support for up to 30 personnel

Unit Focus. The SMART Lab is modular and can be tailored to specific unit training requirements. Although routinely configured as a battalion headquarters, the SMART Lab easily can be configured as a higher- or lower-echelon operational facility in any number of combinations. This flexibility allows commanders to target specific training objectives when their units arrive, focus upon areas needing the most emphasis and make the greatest in quantity of the training time.

not long ago the lab gained access to the Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN) DREN is a sophisticated Department of Defense (DoD) long-haul telecommunications backbone and allows the SMART Lab to distribute training to multiple units that can access DREN

Expertise. Staffed with military, regulation civilian and support contractor personnel SMART Lab tenders expertise in MLRS and [Csub2] software operations and troubleshooting at the individual end unit levels. From AFATDS database construction to exercising ATACMS and rocket mission threads, the personnel in the SMART Lab can help FA MLR units at the individual and collective levels

Many who support the SMART Lab have been overseas to support software fieldings and mobile training teams (MTTs) in the one and the other combat and non-combat zones. Personnel from the SMART Lab freshly were deployed to support the Coalition Forces Land constituting Commander (CFLCC) in Iraq.

proof Facility. Not long ago, the Central Technical Support Facility at Fort head cover Texas, chose the SMART Lab as an off-site experiment facility. This allows software block up mission threads testing at Fort Sill instead of Fort cowl for the M270 and M270A1 launchers, HIMARS and AFATDS.

The savings in personnel time and travel dollars is evident; however, the benefits of improved software fruits and reduced turn-around times may not be in the way that obvious. Now, Fort Sill-centered fire support programs can test-fix-test in timelines not achievable until the SMART Lab was culled as a testing facility. The Soldier realizes an improved warfighting capability with fewer bug in les time.

time to come Capabilities. The SMART Lab has focused a great deal of of its collective expertise and effort upon a high frequency (HF) radio and antenna for possible integration into the MLR and HIMARS launchers. Integrating this ability will give the launcher long-range capabilities not achievable with the frequent occurrence modulation (FM) radios currently used upon the launchers.

Testing has been promising as communications threads have been exercised from Fort Sill to White Sands Missile Range, fresh Mexico, a distance of more than 700 miles. An integrated long-term solution requires more work. SMART Lab personnel are at the forefront of this exciting of recent origin capability.