A first-of-its-kind mobile test facility has been delivered to White Sands Missile Range, N.M. to support the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). The mobile test facility, or the MEADS System Stimulator - Mobile (MSS-M), is a suite of test equipment that generates real-time synthetic targets and validates operational MEADS system performance. By accelerating data collection, it reduces time and cost required to validate system performance.

"MSS-M allows MEADS to perform real-time, end-to-end, hardware-in-the-loop simulation of various scenarios in the field without having to use live targets for each test," said MEADS International President Dave Berganini.

"The combination of simulated and live targets greatly reduces the overall cost of the flight test program. Our efforts to develop a high fidelity simulation and the MSS-M enable a much more cost-effective MEADS test program."

The MSS-M brings extensive test capability to the field when other systems are limited to hardware-in-the-loop simulations in a laboratory environment. At White Sands Missile Range, the mobile test facility is supporting the first MEADS target intercept test, scheduled for later this year.

"With this versatile testing capability, we are able to evaluate and assess MEADS system elements hundreds of times between actual live flight tests," said MEADS International Technical Director Marco Riccetti. "The MSS-M 'learns' from flight test data so future flights expand upon what was experienced in previous testing."

The MEADS system combines superior battlefield protection with new flexibility to protect forces and critical assets against tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft.

Using its 360-degree defensive capability, advanced MEADS radars and MSE missile, MEADS defends up to eight times the coverage area with far fewer system assets and significantly reduces demand for deployed personnel and equipment, which reduces demand for airlift.

MEADS International, a multinational joint venture headquartered in Orlando, Fla., is the prime contractor for the MEADS system. Major subcontractors and joint venture partners are MBDA in Italy, LFK in Germany and Lockheed Martin in the United States.

The MEADS program management agency NAMEADSMA is located in Huntsville, Ala.