Precision Strike Association
Founded in 1988 as the Cruise Missile Association, the Precision Strike Association (PSA) then became a proud Affiliate of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) in 2001. It was a nonprofit organization that provided a forum for disparate experts from the U.S. military, government, national laboratories, and industry in an ethical, collegial, classified environment to mesh the current and future challenges faced by the U.S. military with the art of the possible in precision strike technology. PSA’s annual symposiums and reviews brought top federal and military leadership to a common forum with technical subject matter experts (SMEs) and industry leadership, enabling a candid dialogue that seeks to solve issues across the entire Kill Chain.
In fact, PSA's primary mission was to advance the art and science of precision engagement concepts and technologies with four strategic objectives in mind:
- Facilitate open communication that focuses on the issues facing the warfighter today and in the future
- Promote and elaborate on national defense policy and military strategy
- Rationalize required military capabilities with the broad range of available technology and systems
- Advocate for investment in critical science and technology in order to further the effectiveness of precision engagement operations
For more than 30 years, PSA cultivated a dedicated community with representation by all U.S. military services, the COCOMs, OSD, and the Joint Staff. With such a diverse community behind it, PSA was able to explore a variety of opportunities to improve the ability of precision strike systems to find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess threats. Specific areas of focus included technologies and systems that accelerate the OODA loop such as C4ISR, C3, weapon system platforms, warheads, enabling technologies, and offensive and defensive cyberwarfare capabilities on precision strike. As a result, PSA challenged existing technical and programmatic paradigms to ensure excellence and dynamism within the Precision Strike community. It also provided a medium for the identification of potential weaknesses and the solicitation for support in any of these areas.