YPG gets Scuds for training, testing

YUMA PROVING GROUND - Testers at YPG's Target Yard are getting the chance to study Soviet Scud missile technology now that the installation has received six of the unguided rocket launcher vehicles.

"Most people first became familiar with Scuds during the first Gulf War," said Dan Schoenborn, targets manager for the Technical Services Division for the Yuma Test Center. "These are what the Patriot Missile systems were shooting down."

Schoenborn said the base got the six Scuds - along with some haulers, loaders and decoy vehicles - from Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, where they were being stored.

He added that as far as he knows, YPG is the only installation in the Army to have any Scuds, which were shipped to YPG earlier this month by truck. The base also received a Soviet shore defense missile launcher vehicle and a Soviet multiple rocket launch system vehicle.

The Scud missile, Schoenborn explained, is a mobile, Russian-made, short-range missile fired from the back of a launcher vehicle.

"It's pretty primitive technology. You shoot them in the direction you want them to go in and hope they land where you wanted. They will be launched from one location and driven to another location for the next shot."

The missile, which dates back to the early 1960s, is also derived from the World War II-era German V-2 rockets. Studying how the missile works is important because it is still in use in countries such as Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

Threat Systems and Target Simulation Group manager Randy Ehrlich added, "They are not a smart weapon. They aren't guided, so basically they are point and shoot."

All six of the Scuds are for training purposes only. They are not capable of being fired because they contain no motors or warheads. Ehrlich said YPG didn't have to purchase the Scuds, just pay the cost to have them transported here from the range, which is part of the U.S. Air Force's Nellis Air Base.

While testing was important, Schoenborn said the main reason the base wanted the Scuds was for training purposes.

Two of the Scuds were used in the latest Desert Talon training exercise, which was conducted last week by Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

Schoenborn said using the Scuds adds an unparalleled level of realism to training scenarios. For example, setting up the Scuds in a static display, along with some of the decoy vehicles, out on the base's ranges helps pilots to identify them during an airstrike.

"The Marine Corps likes using them because they want their pilots to know the difference," Schoenborn said. "When you fire a $2 million missile, you want it to take out an actual threat."

Incidentally, the Scuds YPG just got are the same missiles that MCAS pays to have shipped to Yuma from Nevada each year for its annual training exercises.

Other examples of training is to have the Scuds set up and do a simulated firing from one location and move to different one in order to train pilots how to locate them again.

Getting the Scuds has also probably doubled the test center's workload. Schoenborn said they have been conducting various detection tests, sensory tests laser guidance tests and heat signature testing on the Scuds for clients.

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James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.

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CORRECTION

On June 24, YumaSun.com incorrectly reported six Scud missiles in use at Yuma Proving Ground are capable of being fired. The missiles are used as targets in training missions, but have no warheads or motors. They are incapable of being fired. YumaSun.com regrets the error.