Offi ce and contractor made tradeoffs that were
necessary to meet a budget and a schedule driven
by the requirement for early deployment of the
User Operational Evaluation System.
• Improved component level design, qualifi cation
testing, quality control processes, and product
assurance and testing procedures in the manufacturing
of the interceptor were needed. Improved
component level quality testing to confi rm both
design and reliability would greatly enhance the
reliability and provide increased confi dence in the
integrated missile subsystems and system.
• More thorough ground and hardware-in-the-loop
simulation testing of the THAAD missile assembly,
and especially the seeker, needed to be performed.
Due to the strong DOT&E infl uence,
the Program Management Offi ce had chartered
a team to review the contractor and government
hardware-in-the-loop testing capabilities. The
team would provide recommendations on where
improvements were needed to permit testing of
end-to-end integrated missiles and to test critical
subsystems (e.g., divert attitude control system,
seeker, avionics package, etc.)