United States Army Aviation and Missile Center
| DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center | |
|---|---|
 DEVCOM AvMC logo | |
| Active | 1962–present |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | U.S. Army |
| Type | Research and development |
| Garrison/HQ | Redstone Arsenal, Alabama |
| Website | www |
| Commanders | |
| Director | James C. Kirsch |
The U.S. Army DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center (AvMC), (formerly known as the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC)) is a mainly a civilian organization that provides research, development, and engineering services for the Army's aviation and missile platforms. DEVCOM AvMC is headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in Madison County, Alabama.
DEVCOM AvMC is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), which is under the U.S. Army Futures and Concepts Command (FCC), itself under the U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command (T2COM).[1]
Locations
[edit]The DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center is headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Other laboratories are located at Joint Base Langley-Eustis and Hampton, Virginia, as well as Moffett Field in California, where Army and NASA aviation facilities (such as instrumented test ranges and wind tunnels) are used. Personnel devoted to aviation sustainment and engineering are located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and serve as liaison engineers for global operations.[2]
DEVCOM AvMC has over 1.9 million square feet of laboratory space that is used for: sensors and electronics, propulsion systems, aerodynamic structures, modeling and simulation, life cycle software development, and technical testing.[2] DEVCOM AvMC employs approximately 12,000 civilian, military, and contractor personnel.[3]
History
[edit]DEVCOM AvMC traces its origins back to October 1948, when the Army's chief of ordnance designated Redstone Arsenal as the center for research and development in the field of rockets. A year later, the secretary of the Army approved the transfer of the Ordnance Research and Development Division sub-office (Rocket) from Fort Bliss, Texas, to the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. Among those transferred were Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team of German scientists and technicians who had come to the United States after World War II. The Von Braun team is most noted for its pioneering efforts in helping the Army at Redstone lay the foundation for U.S. space exploration.[4]
With the transfer of the Von Braun team to NASA in 1960, research and development activities by the Army at Redstone turned to incorporating space-age technology into weapons for the soldier in the field.[4]
2020s
[edit]Effective 19 January 2020, DEVCOM AvMC's directorates were reorganized:[5]
- Technology Development Directorate (TDD): merged the Aviation Development Directorate with the Weapons Development and Integration Directorate.
- Systems Readiness Directorate (SRD): the Aviation Engineering Directorate and elements of the Engineering Directorate combined to form SRD.
- Software, Simulation, Systems Engineering and Integration (S3I) Directorate: was formerly the Systems Simulation, Software and Integration (S3I) Directorate. DEVCOM AvMC's prototype integration facility, along with certain elements under ED, were shifted to S3I.
Lineage
[edit]- 1962 – The U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) and the Directorate of Research and Development are activated.
- 1964 – U.S. Army Materiel Command assigned the Army Aviation Materiel Command its first aviation and surface research and development center in Fort Eustis, Virginia, to be known as the U.S. Army Aviation Materiel Laboratories. Later that year, the new U.S. Army Aeronautical Research Laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center opened at Moffett Field, California. Both remain in operation today, under DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center.
- 1965 – Redesignated the Research and Development Directorate.
- 1968 – Redesignated the Research and Engineering (R&E) Directorate.
- 1971 – Redesignated the Directorate for Research, Development, Engineering, and Missile Systems Laboratory (RDE&MSL).
- 1972 – RDE&MSL redesignated the Army Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Laboratory (MRDEL).
- 1977 – With the establishment of the U.S. Army Missile Research and Development Command (MIRADCOM), the Technology Laboratory and the Engineering Laboratory were activated.
- 1979 – MRDEL reorganized as the Army Missile Laboratory (AML), in the shift from the dual to merged command structure of the reinstituted MICOM. Also effective this date, the Engineering Laboratory was realigned and established as the Engineering Directorate.
- 1980 – Engineering Directorate functions were placed under AML.
- 1985 – Formation of the Research, Development and Engineering Centers (RDECs), in compliance with AMC directions to establish research, development, and engineering (RD&E) centers.
- 1992 – AVSCOM's RDEC realigned under the new Aviation and Troop Command (ATCOM).
- 1997 – The Aviation RDEC (AVRDEC) and Missile RDEC (MRDEC) assigned under the Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM).
- 1999 / 2000 – The AMRDEC—Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center—was formed by merging the AVRDEC and MRDEC.
- 2004 – AMRDEC assigned to the new Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM).
- 2016 – AMRDEC operationally aligned under AMCOM; administratively aligned under RDECOM.
- 2018 – AMRDEC realigned administratively and operationally with RDECOM. Referred to as RDECOM Aviation and Missile Center.
- 2019 – RDECOM Aviation and Missile Center assigned under Army Futures Command, transferred from Army Materiel Command. Referred to as the Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center (CCDC AvMC).
- 2021 – CCDC AvMC renamed DEVCOM AvMC. Higher headquarters, CCDC, referred to as DEVCOM.
Source:[4]
List of directors
[edit] |
| No. | Director | Term | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Duration | |
| As U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center | |||||
| - | James B. Lackey Acting | January 2014[6] | August 2014[6] | ~212 days | |
| - | James B. Lackey | August 2014[6] | 19 January 2017[7] | ~2 years, 171 days | |
| - | Jeffrey L. Langhout Acting | 19 January 2017[7] | 26 November 2017 | 311 days | |
| - | Juanita Christensen | 26 November 2017[8] | February 2019 | 1 year, 67 days | |
| As U.S. Army CCDC Aviation and Missile Center | |||||
| - | Juanita Christensen | February 2019 | 17 January 2021 | 1 year, 351 days | |
| As U.S. Army DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center | |||||
| - | Jeffrey L. Langhout | 17 January 2021[9] | 26 April 2023 | 2 years, 99 days | |
| - | James C. Kirsch Acting | 26 April 2023[10] | 17 August 2023 | 113 days | |
| - | James C. Kirsch | 17 August 2023[11] | Incumbent | 2 years, 102 days | |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Tolson, Amy (10 December 2019). "CCDC commanding general pays first visit to Aviation, Missile Center". www.army.mil. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
The CCDC Aviation & Missile Center, formerly known as the Aviation & Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, which conducts responsive research, development(,) and life cycle engineering to deliver the aviation and missile capabilities the Army depends on to ensure victory on the battlefield today and tomorrow. Through collaboration across the command's core technical competencies, CCDC leads in the discovery, development(,) and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more lethal to win our nation's wars and come home safely. CCDC is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command.
- ^ a b "CCDC Aviation & Missile Center > About us > Locations & facilities". www.avmc.army.mil. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
Headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, CCDC AvMC has over 1.9 million square feet of laboratory space devoted to innovative work on sensors and electronics, propulsion systems, aerodynamic structures, modeling and simulation, life cycle software development, and technical testing. (___enter___); We have laboratories at Joint Base Langley-Eustis and Hampton, Virginia, and Moffett Field, California, where Army and NASA aviation facilities, such as instrumented test ranges and wind tunnels, are used to support our role as lead service for rotorcraft science and technology. Our responsibility for aircraft extends to airworthiness release authority for issuing the technical document that provides instructions and limitations for safe flight of an aircraft system, subsystem, or allied equipment. Our personnel devoted to aviation sustainment and engineering are located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and serve as liaison engineers around the globe. In addition to these assets, AvMC and our customers benefit from resources available at Redstone, including test ranges and facilities managed by the Redstone Test Center, the FBI's Hazardous Devices School(,) and the Redstone Army Airfield.
- ^ "Who We Are | DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center". www.avmc.army.mil. Archived from the original on 26 November 2025. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
The AvMC team [is] approximately 12,000 strong(.)
- ^ a b c "History | DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center". www.avmc.army.mil. Archived from the original on 26 November 2025. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
- ^ Tolson, Amy (15 January 2020). "Modernization, readiness, focus of CCDC Aviation, Missile Center reorganization". www.army.mil. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
Effective Jan. 19, the new AvMC structure will be: (___enter___); -- Technology Development Directorate: formed by merging the Aviation Development Directorate and Weapons Development and Integration Directorate. ... (___enter___); -- Systems Readiness Directorate: the Aviation Engineering Directorate and elements of the Engineering Directorate will combine to create SRD. ... (___enter___); -- Software, Simulation, Systems Engineering and Integration Directorate: formerly known as the Systems Simulation, Software and Integration Directorate, S3I will largely remain as is. The prototype integration facility, along with some elements that previously fell under ED, will realign under the directorate. ...
- ^ a b c Guckeen Tolson, Amy (2014-08-27). "Senior executive engineer shares vision for center". Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ^ a b Ficken, Nikki (2017-01-19). "Farewell ceremony held for aviation, missile director". Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ^ Ficken, Nikki (2017-12-15). "AMRDEC continues aviation and missile readiness". Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ^ "Langhout returns to lead Aviation & Missile Center". 2021-01-20. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ^ Tolson, Amy (2023-04-26). "Center's retiring director lives by Army core values". Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ^ Davis Skelley, Katie (2023-08-14). "Kirsch named next director of the Army's Aviation & Missile Center". U.S. Army. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
