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Soviet Scuds studied at Yuma

YUMA, Ariz. — Testers at the Yuma Proving Ground’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, the proving ground is the only installation in the Army to have any Scuds, which were shipped to proving ground 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 said, 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 fully functional and still capable of being fired. Ehrlich said proving ground didn’t have to purchase the Scuds, just pay the cost to have them transported here from the range, which is part of the Air Force’s Nellis Air Base.

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

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 the proving ground 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.