European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 29, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Hay is focusing its of forms on training managers to rep lament the ruler. That the army developed under its new policy known As Man Pant. Lor manpower and personnel integration. The policy Calls Lor a reduction in he number of Steps needed to operate a weapon and n the amount of data confronting the operator it also ays that training materials must become clearer Hay teaches a three week course for weapons arc Gram managers in the army a one week course for higher ranking supervisors and a one Day orientation course for generals ii provides similar instruction Tor the contractors. Weddle said it s easy enough for the army to demand this he Aid bul it s a whole lot tougher Lor the Industry of mate mint in in lha face of engineers design  " the army s policy like those of the other services was brought on in Largo measure by a rapidly accelerating phenomenon in the world of weapons an overwhelming Reliance on electronics which Are Corning to dominate military systems of nit Hinds. Pentagon statistics show that Aboul one out of five unlisted men and women hold jobs related to Milec tonics compared to just one out of 20 at the end of world War ii increasingly weapons operators have their lingers on keyboards rather than on triggers and mechanics Are More Likely Louse a voltmeter than a Nonkey wrench electronic components Are turning up in More and Nore places. For example. Donald c. Lii am an assistant Secretary of defense spoke in an interview about his Surprise at learning about the displays incorporated in the Navy s latest Model of diving suit. Inside the suit guess what s in there to regulate ver Lhing a  now contractors will have to demonstrate that this i accelerating quest for High technology has not ignored the Man in the  according to Gen. Maxwell Fhurman vice chief of staff of the army. One weapon that teems to have left the Soldier almost entirely Oul of the Loop is the stinger missile manuf allured by Iha general dynamics corp. Well known because the United Stales has provided 1 to guerrilla armies battling the governments of Afghanistan and Angola the Sti. Oer is so Complex that 3 Ven the Best troops have rouble using it. The stinger s launch tube designed to be carried by 3ne Man who lires the antiaircraft missile from his s Houlder is packed Wilh electronic equipment to help i in find his target. The missile itself carries other s be chronic sensors that guide its Light by seeking out he heal emitted by the aircraft. Bul to operate the weapon the gunner must take 18 Leps. Some of which Are Complex and make rapid decisions about the Typo of aircraft being shot at the of requires fasl thinking and manual dexterity. Martin Binkin the author of a now study military t technology and defense  Calls the stinger 5 classic Case of the importance of considering human performance factors in weapon  army research published in 1983 showed that the ins Sile was extremely sensitive to the skill of ils operator and too complicated for the Caliper of people being assigned to that duty wrote Binkin a manpower expert at the Brookings institution in Washington although recruits who scored highest on the army s aptitude tests could meet performance goals about half Jne time less skilled recruits were unable to meet the demanding requirements for accurately shooting stingers. And 70 percent of the infantrymen assigned to use i Iti Rigers were the Low aptitude recruits the army study Jund. According to starry Ford aerospace and is competitors have been told to take the lessons of the 3lingcr into account As they bid for a contract to i produce a new antitank weapon like the stinger this missile would be carried aimed and fired irom the should i by a single Soldier it does t make much sense to design a system that \ technically has a 95 percent probability of Hilling the target f you can Only train Iho Soldier to score hit 75 percent of the  starry said. The difficulty of training soldiers is a major onside Ralton in the design of Many devices that transparent technology m-1 a gun could not be easier to shoot it it War video Arcada  a palate control modern weapons. Often servicemen must spend months learning to use the equipment and hours every week to keep in practice. Army officers say it can Lake 20 hours a week just to stay familiar with the complexities of the modern computers that Point artillery pieces on the Battlefield. The operators who work in special vans crammed with computers must memorize scores of instructions. Similarly weapons specialists say that it takes More than two years to learn to operate the Ria corp s Aegis system a network of radar antennas computers and missile firing devices that protects big surface ships. Thai is More time than the Navy spends training Jet pilots often experts say the Best Way to learn Haw to simplify a weapon is to watch typical enlisted men and women trying to use in in the Field. The trick is a assemble a team of observers perhaps including a psychologist specializing in cognition and learning and to get their advice Early in a weapon s development. Proponents 0 the increasing use of High technology in weaponry contend thai in the microelectronic age the american population is increasingly adept at operating Complex devices when it is properly used they say. Technology cuts Down on the number of too often contractors put together the flashiest technology a variable without considering How troops will handle a new weapons system says Donn a. Starry a retired Amy general who once commanded v corps in Frankfurt. People needed to do Complex tasks and also on the skill and training required or a demanding Job. There is some evidence that weapons loaded with expensive gear can be easier for troops to operate than less sophisticated weapons even when the soldiers Are not highly educated. The trick experts say is to make the technology transparent meaning Inal the user never realizes that the equipment is performing Complex functions a report published last summer by the congressional budget office for example cited army tests showing that the lowest scorers on the armed forces Oalif Calion test which supposedly forecasts potential Lor successful training would be better Lank gunners than the highest scorers it they were Given a More Modem Lank the technology of the m-1 Abrams tank underscores the potential of new technology for improving performance the report said. On the Lank firing Range. M-1 Crews out shoot the older m-60 series Tanto by More than 40 percent. More important the new tank reduces the importance of mental  the firing system on the m-1 is an example of transparent technology. The new tank s gun could not be easier to shoot Siil were n video Arcade game the gunner finds a Largo in his sights squeezes one trigger to lock the gun on target and squeezes a second trigger to fire. Waking the gun easy to lire called for a battalion of innovative designers army officials said. The fire control system was put together by a team that included general dynamics the Hughes air Rall subsidiary of general motors. Control data s Canadian unit text Ron s Cadillac Gage unit Kollmorgen and Singer s Kearfott division ease of operation however is Only Ono cause Lor concern. Making weapons shut military technicians will be Able to keep in lighting order is equally important i Don t think the equipment is so  said vice adm Jon l. Boyes retired president of the aimed forces communications and electronics association a private Trade group the problem is Over on the maintenance Side of the House handling diagnostics or in House repairs for the deployed forces the m-1 tank Tor example May be simpler to operate than older versions but it 15 Lar More dil cult to maintain an article t program manager an official Pentagon Magazine poin Lud out thai the technical manuals for the m 1 arc three limes 35 thick 35 Whoso or the older a go and an army study found that my mechanics had trouble figuring out Vhal was wrong Wilh the tank when it malfunctioned in Many cases maintenance personnel did nol have a Basic understanding of Hov the various subsystems function and interact the report said 3na29,19b7 the stars and stripes Par,d15