For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office CONTENTS PRINCIPAL WITNESSES WHO APPEARED IN PERSON OR SUBMITTED Page Molinelli, Maj. Gen. Robert F., Director of Combat Support Systems, Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development and Acquisition, Department of Viilu, Andrus, Acting Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Land Warfare, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, SECOND SOURCE PROCUREMENT COPPERHEAD HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, INVESTIGATIONS SUBCOMITTEE, Washington, DC, Thursday, May 22, 1986. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 2212, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Bill Nichols (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NICHOLS, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM ALABAMA, CHAIRMAN, INVESTIGATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE Mr. NICHOLS. The subcommittee will come to order. The purpose of this morning's meeting is to review the status of the 155-millimeter Copperhead guided missile and the Navy's 5inch guided projectile programs. Specifically, we are going to pursue with representatives of the Army and the Navy the reasons why the guidance provided by Congress for second-source production last year for these projectiles has not been carried out, and why both services are pursuing separate courses for each program, resulting in what we consider to be a very inefficient use of defense dollars. The use of commonality is very complicated. There is a great number of technical issues that are involved in establishing whether the Army and the Navy can produce a common projectile or common components. Accordingly, I have asked for technical assistance for this meeting from the staff of the Research and Development Subcommittee. For those who have not spent a lot of time on the guided projectile programs, I would like to offer a very brief history of the program at this time. In 1970, the Navy at its Naval Weapons Laboratory in Dahlgren, VA, undertook a research project to determine whether laser detectors, optical components, gyroscopes, and micro-electronics could withstand the forces of being fired from a Navy 5-inch gun. Within a few years, this research laboratory proved conclusively that these components could indeed survive in such an environment. This was a real breakthrough, since we could now make "dumb bullets" into smart munitions. Consequently we would no longer have to fire a barrage of projectiles at a target, but could have high confidence that a single smart bullet would do the job. In 1972 the Army approached the Navy and asked if this laboratory could conduct a demonstration to show that this technology |