The Army's Center of Lethality
Headquartered at Picatinny, N.J., the Armament Research,
Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) is the Army's principal
researcher, developer and sustainer of current and future armament and
munitions systems. ARDEC plays a key part in Army Transformation with its
involvement in the development of the Soldier and Future Combat Systems and
continued efforts in the development of advanced weapons that exploit
technologies like high-power microwaves, high-energy lasers and
nano-technology.
ARDEC's overall mission is to improve already fielded items, develop
new ones, maintain a strong armament technology base in government, industry
and academia and provide technical support to the soldier in the field. In
this way, the Center achieves its vision of "Innovative Armaments Solutions for
Today and Tomorrow."
The recipient of many prestigious national awards including
the 2007 Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award, the Presidential Award for Quality, two Army Communities of Excellence
Awards and several Army Research and Development Organization of the Year
Awards, ARDEC is an organization whose entire fabric is committed to
providing its ultimate customer, the warfighter, the most effective products
found anywhere in the world.
With over 2,500 highly skilled scientists, engineers and other
technical specialists situated at five different locations throughout the U.
S., ARDEC is currently responsible for several hundred programs that are in
one of the following phases of the Acquisition Process: Basic Research,
Applied Research, Concept Demonstration, Development, Production and
Deployment. The Center's efforts are concentrated in ten major technical
areas: Smart Munitions, Indirect Fire, Direct Fire, Soldier Weapons, Mines
and Demolitions, Gun Propulsion, Fuzing and Lethal Mechanisms, Fire Control,
Munitions Survivability and Pollution Prevention.
ARDEC is the Army's "Center of Lethality" and as such is leading the
way in the development of tomorrow's armament and munitions systems, working
closely with its Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine partners.
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