...historical documents, unclassified government reports, and other public sources were reviewed for information regarding PAC-2 development. Patriot PAC-2 is a case study in effective project management that resulted in the extraordinary acceleration in the final stages of development, production, and deployment in time to play a historic role in the Gulf War. The Patriot PAC-2 lessons may benefit future project managers engaged in the final stages of system development prior to a major conflict.

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Beginning in 1966, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara authorized the contract definition for the Surface-to-Air Missile Defense (SAM-D). In 1967, Raytheon was awarded the contract for the advanced development program for SAM-D. This four-year program developed and demonstrated hardware elements and computer software that coordinated the operation of all elements performing the air defense functions from target detection through intercept (Oldacre, personal interview, May 29, 2001). SAM-D benefited from technology transferred from the original missile designed as a defense against ballistic missile attack, Nike-Zeus. While Nike-Zeus was never actually fielded due to technological limitations, much was learned that aided the development of SAM-D.

By 1970, the Track-via-Missile (TVM) guidance seeker was demonstrated through a series of real-time flight simulations. In mid-1970, Raytheon's contract was expanded to include an engineering development definition effort. The SAM-D engineering development program was initiated in 1972. The emphasis in this program was on the early initiation of missile flight tests. The advance development radar, computer and guidance hardware were modified to support guidance flight tests of the engineering development model missile. During the same timeframe, the engineering development model ground equipment was initiated in parallel development (Oldacre, personal interview, May 29, 2001).

During the early part of the engineering development program, critics questioned the tracking via missile concept. These discussions reached Secretary of Defense Schlesinger who concluded that the importance and the cost of the program required that the guidance system be thoroughly proved before continuing the development program. Based on these discussions, the reoriented program, called Proof-of-Principle, focused on the missile guidance system. In addition, in January 1974 Congress directed the Army to conduct a Cost and Operational Effectiveness Analysis (COEA) in coordination with the General Accounting Office (GAO).

The results of the COEA reaffirmed the need for an air defense system with SAMD's capabilities. Initial testing conducted in 1974 verified SAM-D's on-board control system, aerodynamic and structural design of the missile, and in-flight acquisition and tracking by the ground based fire control group. In early 1975, in a test at White Sands Missile Range, SAM-D successfully destroyed a drone in its first engineering development test of the TVM guidance system. Subsequent tests proved that the TVM guidance system was robust against a variety of maneuvering targets and countermeasures. As a result of the performance in the Proof-of-Principle program, SAMD was approved for return to full-scale development in January 1976 (Capps, personal interview, April 26, 2001).

In 1976, with the resuming of full-scale development, SAM-D was renamed Patriot. By 1977, an Army System Acquisition Review Council (ASARC) decision was made to accelerate the program. This decision moved the production date up from the original schedule of March 1983 to April 1980. This entailed the risk that the initial production equipment would not have the required operational reliability and software maturity. This decision resulted in the elimination of the third phase development tests and operational tests (DT/OT (III). These tests were replaced with a production confirmatory test and a follow-on evaluation (Fenstermacher, 1990).

In September 1980, following the Defense Systems Acquisition Review Council ill (DSARC III) production readiness review, low rate production for Patriot was approved subject to a verification test program. In October 1980, Raytheon began the initial low rate production that included five fire units and 155 missiles. This initial production was accompanied by a series of Follow On Evaluation (FOE) tests that included operational software tests, testing of diagnostic software, retrofitting and testing of the missile, and checking reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM). The final set of tests would be completed with the production equipment and with operational personnel. This test would be known as FOE-II.

The first production units came off the line in early 1983. The operational tests began in June 1983 at White Sands Missile Range under the supervision of the Army Operational Test and Evaluation Agency (OTEA; Annual Historical Review, 1984). FOE-II would be the first time combat troops would actually use Patriot in an operational environment. The tests would include search and track scenarios, simulated and live missile firings, including day and night operations. (Fenstermacher, 1990).

FOE-II did not go well and the test results were substandard. There was excessive equipment downtime. Diagnostic and corrective action was complicated and led to delays in returning the equipment to an operational status. It became immediately clear that much of the equipment failure was due to production quality control deficiencies. As the tests continued problems multiplied, disagreements emerged regarding the design of the operational tests, and an adversarial relationship began to develop between Raytheon and OTEA. Before FOE-II was completed, OTEA made the decision to discontinue the operational testing. This turn of events was a shock to both Raytheon and the Patriot project office.

Following the discontinuation of FOE-II, Patriot was placed on what was labeled a "milestone schedule." The previous schedule for deployment to Europe was cancelled and Raytheon was instructed to systematically correct each problem that had been identified during the FOE-II tests. The milestone schedule meant that deployment and full-rate production were postponed indefinitely. Only after a new Follow On Evaluation (FOE-III) would full-rate production begin.

LESSON 1: A CORPORATE CULTURE THAT RESPONDS TO ADVERSITY

Raytheon had been prepared to launch full-rate production. With the failure of FOE-II, production capacity and staffing would not be utilized. Patriot was Raytheon's largest single program, and in 1983 it represented approximately 20 percent of the company's total sales revenue. Both Raytheon corporate management and the engineers in the Missile Systems Division knew that Patriot would either...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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