Students from the Army War College were briefed on some of CERDEC’s unique assets used to test and evaluate the network and the components that interface with it in a battalion command post mock-up in CERDEC's C4ISR Systems Integration Lab, a facility which performs lab-based risk reduction for the Army’s Network Integration Evaluation. (U.S. Army CERDEC Photo/Kelly White)

Army War College students watch a demonstration at the CERDEC C4ISR Prototype Integration Facility during a visit on May 24. (U.S. Army CERDEC Photo/Kelly White)

Robert Zanzalari, CERDEC associate director, gives an overview of the CERDEC C4ISR Prototype Integration Facility during the Army War College visit on May 24. (U.S. Army CERDEC Photo/Kelly White)

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (June 1, 2016) - The U.S. Army Materiel Command's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC, hosted students from The United States Army War College, here, May 24.

The visit provided familiarization of the CERDEC mission and included tours of the CERDEC labs, overview briefings, and an opportunity to see new science and technology.

The first stop on the CERDEC lab tour was the C4ISR Prototype Integration Facility, or PIF, which designs, tests, and builds prototypes using an iterative development process.

Robert Zanzalari, CERDEC associate director, greeted the students and gave an overview of CERDEC and how it relates to the Soldier. The students focused on Operational Sustainment and the Defense Industrial Base, and according to Zanzalari, the PIF is a great example to showcase the use of an RDEC's capability and the interaction with the organic and defense Industrial base.

“From an R&D perspective, we’re working on productizing and integrating science and technology programs as we integrate them into platforms,” Zanzalari said. “The CERDEC facilities being shown during the tour represent a collective effort from a recapitalization perspective.”

The students also toured CERDEC’s Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate Joint SATCOM Engineering Center, or JSEC, and the C4ISR Systems Integration Laboratory, or CSIL, during the tour.

The JSEC is doing relevant research and development in order to provide the best satellite communications technology for transition to the Soldier.

The CSIL is the site for all lab-based risk reduction and provides a simulated, advanced lab environment for engineers to assess, evaluate and integrate new capabilities onto current and next generation tactical networks.

“The JSEC and CSIL are important components to show the students in order to gain a perspective of supporting operational missions and laboratory-based risk reduction,” Zanzalari said.

Through face-to-face interaction with CERDEC leadership, the Army War College students’ visit directly provided an understanding of CERDEC’s strategic direction and increased their knowledge of its technology areas.

The U.S. Army War College educates and develops leaders for service at the strategic level while advancing knowledge in the global application of Landpower, according to its website.

In conjunction with the CERDEC tour, the students visited with the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, also known as RDECOM.

“The RDECOM and CERDEC briefings and tours were extremely timely,” said Col. John Cavedo Jr., a student from the Army War College. “They [RDECOM and CERDEC] really provided operational context to academic theory.”

Cavedo noted that both organizations are essential for innovation and breaking technology boundaries to ensure our Warfighters maintain decisive overmatch capability.