308th launches new, improved weapons systems

  • Published
  • By Noel Getlin
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  This is part of a series exploring the cradle-to-grave process of air armament. These stories will focus on some of the units involved in the acquisition, development and testing of weapons systems at Eglin Air Force Base.

Weapons like the Joint Direct Attack Munition can turn a firefight to allied troops' advantage in a matter of seconds. But, capabilities like this do not just happen. 

Before weapons like the JDAM, the Small Diameter Bomb, and the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile are ever put into action, they go through a detailed systems engineering process behind the scenes. 

The 308th Armament Systems Wing here ushers these weapons programs through the supporting test agencies from inception to delivery to the warfighter. 

The wing is responsible for designing, developing, producing, fielding and sustaining a family of air-to-air, air-to-ground, and directed energy weapons, enhancing warfighter capabilities to defeat a spectrum of enemy targets. The wing also delivers test and training systems such as aerial targets and range instrumentation. 

"In the Department of Defense, the requirements and capabilities of a weapon system are communicated through the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System," said Chris Clay, engineering director for the 308th ARSW. "That's how the warfighting commands decide what they need and then those requirements flow down to us to build a stable, affordable program to deliver that capability. We are the execution arm for getting warfighters' products out the door." 

The 308th ARSW accomplishes this responsibility through programs based on the Defense Acquisition Framework. A standard set of phases and milestones compose the Acquisition Framework and programs use them to establish basic development cycles and decision points. The basic phases are Material Solution Analysis, Technology Development, Engineering and Manufacturing Development, Production and Deployment, and Operations and Support. Within these standard phases, the Wing's program teams develop detailed schedules. Each program's schedule is unique and tailored to effectively deliver capability to the warfighter. 

It is the program teams within the 308th that shepherd a program through the acquisition life cycle and advise the Program Executive Officer, Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics on program readiness to proceed. 

The folks of the 308th cannot make all of this happen by themselves. They depend on other key players in the process such as industry and the government test community.
The wing contracts with the defense industry, which designs the weapon and its components, and collaborates with the 46th Test Wing, which provides a lead test person for each program to help plan for flight tests and evaluations down the road. 

"We work with a contractor partner to design and manufacture the product the Air Force uses," Mr. Clay said. "Organizations like the 780th Test Squadron, (which handles ground and air-to-air testing) fit in during the planning because we have to shape the testing. This is where the Air Armament Center, the Air Staff, Office of the Secretary of Defense and the OSD joint staff are heavily involved." 

All of this activity is performed to satisfy warfighter needs stated in documents like the Capabilities Development Document. 

"We take what they have in the CDD and that's what we use to build our program," said Mr. Clay. "Building the program to meet those requirements requires interaction with industry and the test community in the beginning and all the way through. It's a real true partnership to get it done." 

The 308th has a variety of efforts on-going to meet warfighters' requirement. Some efforts create new systems and some modify an existing system. Some manufacture new hardware and some involve writing software. The bottom line, according to Mr. Clay, is this: "We develop and produce on time, on cost and on schedule to the greatest extent that we can to accomplish the Air Force - and often the Navy - mission, which is to fly, fight and win."