ensure our forces are equipped and trained with the most advanced, relevant

technologies available to support dynamic and challenging operations such as Operation Joint Endeavor. Thank you.

Mr. WELDON. Mr. Singley.

STATEMENT OF GEORGE T. SINGLEY III, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, DEFENSE RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Mr. SINGLEY. Mr. Chairman, I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to appear before you again, particularly on such an important issue as countering the grave landmine threat confronting the United States and our allies around the globe.

As Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering, I am responsible for the formulation, planning, and review of the Department of Defense Science and Technology Program. I work closely with the science and technology executives from the military departments and defense agencies to ensure the programs are of high quality, responsive to military needs, and well coordinated to preclude unnecessary duplication. I also chair the executive committee that directs the Defense Science and Technology Reliance effort to improve coordination, collaboration, and joint planning of the service and agency programs, to include the countermine program.

During the past 4 years, we, in the research and development community, have better focused, with your help, and intensified our efforts to improve our ability to detect and clear mines over large areas with high confidence. Following Desert Storm, we restructured the Army countermine science and technology program to better concentrate on remote mine detection and neutralization.

In another related action to strengthen our countermine science and technology program, we took advantage of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in two instances. One I will talk about later in terms of Jefferson Proving Ground; second, we combined a countermine program which had been at the Belvoir Research and Development Center, combined that with the night vision electronic sensors which you have heard about already.

To support our forces in Somalia, we rapidly dispatched the countermine project officer from the Advanced Research Projects Agency and a team of engineers from the Countermine Division at the Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate. They went to Somalia and helped our soldiers use the very latest technologies available for hand-held and vehicle-mounted detection.

To address systems integration and to speed technology transition to the field, the Joint Countermine Concept Technology Demonstration just mentioned was created, sponsored by the U.S. Atlantic Command and managed by a joint Army-Navy-Marine Corps project office. This program will have war fighters use several different maturing technologies to determine which are the most effective and operationally suitable at detecting and clearing individual landmines and minefields. These real-world experiments will also investigate the tactics, techniques, and procedures to make best use of these advanced systems.

Although our investments in countermine technologies and concepts are to meet military requirements, we must also recognize that they may also be useful in doing other tasks, such as detecting and clearing unexploded ordnance.

In 1994, with the strong support of Congress, we initiated a project to evaluate innovative systems and technologies for the detection, identification, remediation of buried, unexploded ordnance. The project was managed by the U.S. Army Environmental Center, while the U.S. Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division provided the technical lead.

A 120-acre controlled test site at Jefferson Proving Ground containing inert ordnance and nonordnance and debris was established. The result confirmed the difficulty of detecting and identifying buried ordnance and mines, with acceptable false alarm rates. The tests also reinforced the importance of testing proposed hardware and software before committing to acquisition.

Research in advanced sensors, sensor fusion, and automatic target recognition is critical to improving our ability to detect and identify buried metallic and nonmetallic mines with fewer false alarms. We are also investing in research to improve our understanding of the physics of mine detection and neutralization.

We recently released a broad agency announcement soliciting proposals from the Nation's university community for multidisciplinary research to produce new technologies, for remote, reliable detection, and neutralization of mines during combat and operations other than war. It is anticipated this will result in at least one award of $1 million for up to 5 years.

We are working closely with our allies in this area through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] Defense Research Group and our partners in the technical cooperation program, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. I am the U.S. representative to both bodies, and I can tell you, based upon my discussions in both bodies in the last 6 months, this is a very hot topic, as you can well imagine, in those bodies as well.

We are exchanging information and we are doing collaborative programs together, working with the joint staffs, services, and agencies, and building on the results of ongoing joint war fighting capability assessments. We are also preparing the first joint war fighting science and technology plan. It contains our resource-constrained strategy and plan for providing the future joint war fighter with the technology and the advanced systems to achieve 12 selected joint war fighting objectives. One of these is joint countermine.

If I could digress from my prepared remarks a little bit, what we will be doing is, we will be laying out for the first time, from research all the way to technology transition, what our different technological paths are and what the demonstrations are and what advanced concept and technology demonstrations are needed, so we can be assured we are, in fact, transitioning that technology. It will certainly bring an increased level level of visibility visibility to to joint countermining.

In response to H.R. 104-131, dated June 1, 1995, we are in the process of selecting an existing organization to become the Department of Defense executive agent for area ordnance clearing. Our plans in this area are being strengthened as you requested. We are improving the focus and coordination of this important program with initiatives like the defense science and technology reliance,

our technology area plan, and like our new joint war fighting science and technology plan.

Increased funding in this area since 1994 has allowed us to enhance the demonstration and evaluation of promising technologies from industrial and Government laboratories. Research funding will sponsor this Nation's universities to seek breakthrough technologies to make progress faster.

Your continued interest and support for our countermine science and technology efforts are very much appreciated and essential to accelerating solutions to our future forces.

Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Singley follows:]