ARMY LIMITED WAR LABORATORY SEEKS TO REDUCE RESEARCH TIME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100040025-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 1999
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: June 15, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Released 164/ W'CIA-RDP75-
JUNE 15, 1964 FOIAb3b
Army Limited War Laboratory
Seeks to Reduce.Research Time
CPYRGHT
By George C. Wilson
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.-In its hastily constructed Limited War
Laboratory here, Army is throwing away the old timetable for research and
development projects and trying to make "quick reaction" its benchmark.
New timetable calls for going from approved concept to first prototype
within 18 months, and preferably within six, compared with the usual three
to five years. Army Secretary Stephen Ailes cited the laboratory to the House
Armed Services Committee last week as proof of the Army's'determination to
respond quickly to the equipment needs of the South Vietnam war.
Success of the "quick reaction" die- platform in the South Vietnam war.
win for research depends on both the-'
Army and the aerospace industry ac-
quiring new ways of thinking and act-
ing. Already the Army is looking for
administrative shortcuts to achieve this
objective, while industry is showing in-
creasing interest in anticipating and
meeting limited war needs. One cvi-
dcnce of this is the 192 unsolicited pro-
posals the Limited War Laboratory has
received from industry so far. About
5% of them have resulted in contracts,
The laboratory physically is laid out
for quick reaction. It has two floors of
compact laboratories and offices in the
main building and an adjacent shop. It
is fairly standard for an engineer from
the lab to walk out of his building with
a handful of sketches and go directly
to the shop to have them transformed
"To make one kilometer through
the jungle or rice paddies in Vietnam,
he said, "takes an hour. So what good
is a landing zone five miles away? - If
you don't land right on the target with
your troops, you might as well start out'
in a truck from Saigon in the. first
place. The enemy guerrillas know the
escape routes and mine them as they,.
leave. So what do you do? You 'get
on top of them."
The landing platform is still in the
research stage. But a new rope rig for
lowering troops or cargo from trees or
hovering helicopters already has been
devised at the laboratory. The key is
its metal friction device which is so
effective that a paratrooper can lower
himself by gripping the rope with only
Rnarrl of FF
one hanrl The Tn.fanfr
y
i
t
demands of the moment. Right now From the sound of the passing slugs, the'. for a given amount of money and then
most of those urgent demands are corn- device can tell the pilot where the fire draws against it by assigning specific
ing from Vietnam. Possible solutions is coming from-a real help in Vietnam tasks to the contractor over an cx-
to many of the problems are already fare where the Viet Cong shoot at aircraft tended project'period.
along at the laboratory. from under dense cover. Once the Army research leaders long have'
On the second floor of the laboratorypilot knows what quadrant the fire came claimed that, they have bccn'streainlin-
for example, a model of a Bell UI-I-1 from, he can avoid that area or attack ing their procedures. But the Vietnam
Iroquois is perched atop Betting sus- it. The laboratory started out devolop-; crisis, with congressional demands that
pended over an artificial jungle of trees. ing a device just to tell whether an the equipment , needs get the highest
The idea is to have the helicopter lay aircraft was fired upon. Thiokol built priority, is giving impetus to further
clown rolls of strong nettinkry so it catches. the latest of these prototypes. streamlining. As it is now, the Limited
on the branches. Then the helicopter: The Limited War, Laboratory does War Laboratory sometimes finds itself
would set an aluminum disc in the; much of its work in-house, But it also with the prototype of a limited war
center of the netting, making a combat: goes to industry for help-often on. only weapon in hand but not the necessary
landing platform. Col, Austin Triplett, one aspect of a project, This type of Small Development Requirement pa-
Jr., cluef of the laboratory's operations; assistance is sometimes handled through' per. This puts the laboratory in a
branch and for three years the senior, service contracts-a contract that is!! position similar to an outside contractor
adviser to the Vietnamese ' Airborne awarded on the basis of the contractor's trying to sell his proposal to the Army.
Brigade, explained the need for such a' general capabilities. rather than his re-- Secretary Ailes assured the House
sponse to a specific equipment request.'. Armed Services Committee last week'
C I;11LtOd
.Approved For Release 1999/09/17 CIA-RDP75-00.149.R0001000400n
n
o iuvucm. Benning, Ga., is now testing it.
More so than the bigger military re- I Another Vietnam-oriented project is
search centers, the Limited War Labo-.; an acoustical disc that would be at-
ratory has the flexibility to put aside the; tachcd to a helicopter or fixed-wing air
regular project list and turn to urgent craft to detect the passage of bullets.
Aberdc6n advertises its general needs
to industry and then picks contractors
that appear best qualified to meet them.
This saves the' time of going through'
the selection process when a specific'
need arises. The Army signs a contract