BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE ORGANIZATION

In May 1974, as the sole Safeguard System site neared completion, the Secretary of the Army realigned all BMD efforts under one organization: the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). A field-operating agency of the Chief of Staff U.S. Army (CSA), BMDO was located in the Huntsville Research Park, with a BMD Program Manager and Program Office in the Washington, D.C., area. William A. Davis, Jr., was the civilian Director of BMDO-Huntsville. LTG Walter P. Leber briefly served as the first BMD PM; then MG Robert C. Marshall served as BMD PM between 1974 and 1976.

BMDO was responsible for implementing the Safeguard System, and also had the more general role of conducting research and development in advanced ballistic missile defense including Theater Missile Defense (TMD); it also managed the Kwajalein Missile Range (KMR). In 1994, BMDO gained public attention when, in cooperation with NASA, it launched a space probe, Clementine, to the Moon.

Also in the reorganization of May 1974, the SAFSCOM in Huntsville was renamed the Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Command (BMDSCOM), and the Ballistic Missile Defense Advanced Technology Center (BMDATC) was formed, replacing parts of the original ABMDA. BG John G. Jones commanded BMDSCOM between 1975 and 1977; for the last year he was also the BMD PM and was named the U.S. Army Project Manager of the year. From 1977 to 1979, MG Stewart C. Meyer served simultaneously as BMD PM and commanded both BMDSCOM, and BMDATC. William A. Davis, Jr., served as the civilian Director of BMDATC from 1971 to 1975; Davis then became Deputy BMD PM. James D. Carlson succeeded Davis as Director of BMDATC.

Filling out the 1970s, BMDSCOM also continued the development in a new program called Site Defense – a SPRINT-based system for protecting single strategic sites. All activities were conducted within the bounds of a 1974 Congressional ban on prototyping that limited research and development to the subsystem and component levels. The BMDATC / BMDSCOM explored future technologies such as sensors, missiles, and software. Research in non-nuclear options – kinetic-kill technology and directed-energy weapons – was begun.

Optical techniques for discrimination were given much attention; the Optical Signatures Code (OSC) was developed by contractor TBE and distributed to military and industrial organizations. OSC is a set of programs that, among other functions, models ballistic and satellite trajectories and calculates infrared and visible optical signatures of hard-bodies. A number of years in evolution, the full OSC matured under the leadership of Jerry C. Edwards. Being continuously updated, the OCS is still an industry standard.