The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (CCDCAC), or Armaments Center, headquartered at

Picatinny Arsenal The Picatinny Arsenal ( or ) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark. The Ar ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, is the US Army's primary research and development arm for armaments and munitions. Besides its Picatinny headquarters, the Armaments Center has three other research facilities, including

Benét Laboratories Benét Laboratories, part of the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center, is the US Army's primary design, development, engineering and production and field support facility for large caliber armament systems, including can ...

. The Armaments Center works to develop more advanced weapons using technologies such as

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different fre ...

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The firs ...

s and

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

. The Armaments Center was established in February 2019, when it was aligned with the

United States Army Futures Command The United States Army Futures Command (AFC) is a United States Army command, designed as a public-private initiative, that runs modernization projects for the Army. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and was first commanded by General John M. ...

along with its senior organization, the

United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command The Combat Capabilities Development Command, (DEVCOM, aka CCDC) (formerly the United States Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM)) is a subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. RDECOM was tasked with "creating, ...

. Armaments Center was called the U.S. Army Armament Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC). The Armaments Center is the R&D center for armaments used by the U.S. Army,

United States Special Operations Command The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States A ...

(SOCOM), and other U.S. military organizations. It is one of the specialized research, development, and engineering centers within the U.S. Army Futures Command. Armaments Center's purpose is to provide battlefield supremacy for U.S. troops through “

overmatch Overmatch is a concept in modern military thinking which prizes having overwhelming advantages over an adversary to a more significant margin than in traditional warfare. It is related to military superiority. Overmatch uses a military force's "ca ...

capabilities.” Over the past 10 years, Armaments Center has developed and released more than 20 products that have provided U.S. troops with “world’s best” capabilities, compared with products from foreign military and other U.S. defense organizations. The Armaments Center is the lead research, development and engineering of systems solutions to arm those who defend the nation against all current and future threats, both at home and abroad. Armaments Center is broken into a number of directorates such as "Weapons Systems and Technology Directorate" and "Munitions Systems and Technology Directorate".

History

The Armaments Center traces its history to the creation of the U.S. Army Armament Research and Development Center (ARRADCOM) in 1977. Their mission was to create new and improve old weapons and munitions. Among their early work was modelling of the

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams is a List of main battle tanks by generation, third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern Armoured warfa ...

tank. Under the ARRADCOM command were the R&D centers at Picatinny Arsenal, Edgewood Arsenal, the Ballistic Research Lab and Watervliet Arsenal. In 1983, ARRADCOM's original mission was handed to the

U.S. Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(AMCCOM) at

Rock Island Arsenal The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. Rock Islan ...

. However, the original weapons and munitions R&D mission remained at Picatinny after being renamed the U.S. Army Armament Research and Development Center (ARDC). In 1986, a further reorganization of all of the Army's R&D centers caused ARDC to become ARDEC. This name was retained when the group was transferred again to the Tank-automotive and Armament Command (TACOM) in 1994, and again to the Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) in 2003. Among the many systems the Armaments Center has worked on over its history are the

Patriot missile The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar compon ...

fire control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a Director (military), director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs ...

s and ammunition for the

M2 Bradley The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle that is a member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family. It is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments, which was formerly United Defense. The Bradley is designed ...

, and

M712 Copperhead The M712 Copperhead is a 155 mm caliber cannon-launched guided projectile. It is a fin-stabilized, terminally laser guided, explosive shell intended to engage hard point targets such as tanks, self-propelled howitzers or other high-value targ ...

anti-tank artillery missile. More recently, ARDEC has worked on bunker defeat munitions, XM107 sniper rifle, M919 round for the

M242 Bushmaster The M242 Bushmaster chain gun is a 25 mm (25×137mm) single-barrel chain-driven autocannon. It is used extensively by the U.S. military, such as in the Bradley fighting vehicle, as well as by other NATO members and some other nations in grou ...

M830 The M830 is an American high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) high explosive multi purpose cartridge which has anti-armor and anti-personnel capabilities. This round is meant for the 120 mm M256 main gun of the M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams. The M830 HEAT-MP-T, ...

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

munition, M211 and M212 countermeasure flares,

M4 carbine The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively ...

, and many other systems. Efforts to diversify the Armaments Center revenue stream have led to a growth in non-Army revenue from about $60 million in FY 2001 to $140 million in FY07. The overall revenue has increased from approximately $600 million in FY 2001 to around $1.2 billion in FY 2007. Designated as the benchmark for the Army in technology transfer, ARDEC has had approximately 75 percent of its technology projects transition from research into customer funded development since FY 2005. The Armaments Center has received awards and recognition based on customer satisfaction and perceived value including Value Engineering Accomplishments of Merit. Over the past five years, The Armaments Center has won 13 of the Army’s “10 Greatest Inventions of the Year” awards. In 2003, the various Army RD&E centers were put under the

Research, Development and Engineering Command The Combat Capabilities Development Command, (DEVCOM, aka CCDC) (formerly the United States Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM)) is a subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. RDECOM was tasked with "creating ...

located in

Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work at ...

. Recently in 2019, the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center came under the new Army Future's Command and became known as the Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center. .https://www.ardec.army.mil/

References

{{Authority control CCDC Armaments Center Military simulation Morris County, New Jersey 1977 establishments in New Jersey

History

See also

References