across the lab that include experts in neuro science, electrical engineering, and cognitive engineering who never worked together before, didn’t even speak the same tech language, but now are finding new areas of commonality in their research.”
Aviation and Missiles RDEC The history of AMRDEC dates back to 1948 and the establishment of a center for rocket R&D at Redstone Arsenal. The following year, the Army Ordnance R&D Division Sub-Office (Rocket) at Fort Bliss, Texas, was transferred to Redstone, along with Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team of German scientists and technicians, who developed Nazi Germany’s rocket program, then surrendered to American forces at the end of World War II. Their work at Redstone helped advance the development of America’s missile and rockets programs and laid the foundation for the United States’ entry into space. When NASA was created shortly after the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, the von Braun team was transferred to the newly established Marshal Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Ala. With that, the Army’s R&D activities at Redstone shifted to integrating Space Age technology into field-level weapons.
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When AMC stood up in 1962, it became the Missile Command (MICOM) Directorate of Research and Development, the first of numerous name changes in the following years – the Research and Development Directorate (1965), the Research and Engineering Directorate (1968), the Directorate for Research, Development, Engineering and Missile Systems Lab (1971), the Army Missile Research, Development and Engineering Lab (1972), the Missile Research and Development Command (MIRADCOM - 1977), the Army Missile Lab (1979), and the Aviation RDEC (AVRDEC) and Missile RDEC (1985) under the new Army Aviation and Missile Command. AVRDEC and Missile RDC (MRDEC) were merged as AMRDEC in 1997, then moved from MICOM to RDECOM in 2004. Each of those iterations represented movement toward AMC’s ultimate development of RDECs as technical centers of excellence to ensure maximum return from RD&E resources. Since 1976, AMRDEC, designated a Large Development Lab, and its predecessors have received 29 Department of the Army Awards for Excellence, including being named the Army’s R&D Lab of the Year more than any other facility (FY 81-85-89-9394-00-03-05-07). AMRDEC is the Department of Defense (DoD) lead for rotorcraft S&T and gel propellants, maintains one of
U.S. Army photos
///// Left: “PSID” – A wide variety of sensors and detectors developed at the U.S. Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Center, Fort Belvoir, Va., to protect men, equipment, and installations from the hit-run-and-hide enemy in Vietnam. This seismic intrusion detector was created to alert patrols of possible ambushes. Right: Designed by the Prototype Integration Facility team, a pack to carry a small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV) uses a quick-release strap system and frame, giving the Soldier another option for the removal of the SUGV.