Tests for these items are conducted on the lots according to the frequencies and procedures specified in SB 742-1
and the appropriate supply bulletins, or as directed by the materiel commodity command. The tests are performed
under the direction of the QASAS.
Function Tests at Training Facilities. Annual service practice firings of GMLR are used to supplement the
ballistic performance and reliability data obtained during other elements of the ASRP. In some cases, these
firings may be monitored by telemetry or other equipment to collect stockpile reliability data.
Special Function Tests. Special function tests are held as directed by the materiel commodity command.
These tests may be conducted independently of, or in addition to, other inspections and tests. Special function
tests are used to determine the extent of degradation of a specific portion of the stockpile (for example, lot-by-lot
testing of a stockpile segment that is marginally reliable). They are also used to revise or establish criteria for
surveillance, service life, shelf life, or similar yardsticks for items currently in use or in stock.
The Stockpile Laboratory Test Program
The third major program within the ASRP is the stockpile laboratory test program. The tests in this program are
for those items conducive to laboratory testing. The following are some of these items:
Toxic chemical fillers.
Bulk propellant.
Cartridge-actuated devices.
Propellant-actuated devices.
Missiles.
Complex conventional ammunition and components.
Items for which functional testing may not be feasible because of cost or range limits (such as extended-range
and kinetic-energy projectiles).
The stockpile laboratory test program is also managed by the materiel commodity commands (AMCCOM and
MICOM). The program is carried out through either destructive or nondestructive laboratory tests. It is
conducted to detect trends or changes in the items' quality, to determine the items' serviceability, and to establish,
confirm, or revise the shelf-life periods for the items.
Stockpile laboratory tests may be conducted independently of, or in addition to, the other inspections and tests.
Items that are nondestructively tested (such as missiles) are returned to the stockpile in a restored, ready-for-issue
condition.
Summary and Additional Information
You are now familiar with the ASRP and the critical importance of this program. The ASRP is a result of lessons
learned from history. Two reasons for the early fall of US forces in the Philippines during World War II were
ammunition that failed to function and devastating explosive accidents involving ammunition stockpiles. On the
other hand, the great successes in Panama and Iraq can be attributed in part to ammunition that arrived in a
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