Center’s history harkens back to the beginning of Army aviation, missile technology | Article

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (Sept. 11, 2024) – It was a merger of “two world-class RDECs into one.”

On Oct. 18, 1999, the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center was formed.

“I see this as a step forward and a way to provide even better support than we have in the past,” said Maj. Gen. Al Sullivan, commander of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, during the ribbon cutting.

A precursor to today’s DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, AMRDEC’s name might have been new, but its roots dug deep – back to 1962 with the formation of the U.S. Army Missile Command.

That creation of MICOM included the standing up of the Directorate of Research and Development. Two years later in 1964, the directorate’s permanent home opened – a large building looming over Martin Road, emblazoned with a name familiar to Redstone Arsenal: MCMORROW.

Maj. Gen. Francis “Frank” McMorrow was the first commander of MICOM during a critical time for missile technology. Missile pioneer Wernher von Braun and his German team had departed the Army in 1960 to set up operations at NASA in the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center.

Although his time as commander was brief, McMorrow oversaw an organization shift that would fundamentally change the Army project managers for its missile system programs.

With his sudden death in 1963, McMorrow would not live to see the building that bore his name. When the $4.4 million facility was dedicated the next year, it was presided over by another familiar Huntsville name – Maj. Gen. John Zierdt, MICOM commander.

During this period, Army aviation was also moving and modernizing.

In 1964, the U.S. Army Materiel Command assigned the U.S. Army Aviation Command its first aviation and surface materiel 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 Ames Research Center opened on Moffett Field, California. Both remain in operation today under the DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center umbrella.

In 1992, a later iteration of AVCOM, the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command, or ATCOM, stood up in Saint Louis, Missouri, combining the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command with the Troop Support Command. In 1997, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission moved ATCOM to Redstone Arsenal from St. Louis and with it came its Research, Development and Engineering Center.

In 1997, ATCOM and MICOM would officially become AMCOM, but with the Aviation RDEC and the Missile RDEC remaining separate. With its 1999 formation, AMRDEC would exist for almost two decades, cementing its reputation as the Army’s central point for its aviation and missile research and technology efforts. In 2018, it transferred from AMCOM and its higher headquarters AMC, to the newly formed Army Futures Command — joining six other centers under AFC’s major subordinate command, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, and becoming the DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, or DEVCOM AvMC.

“For 60-plus years we have been at the forefront of missile and aviation technology,” Director Dr. James Kirsch said. “We have been the people the Army depends on for maintaining what AFC refers to as war-winning future readiness for more than six decades.”

Although the Center can trace its history through several pivotal evolutions, it observes each October as its official birthday month. The DEVCOM AvMC mission remains steadfast in 2024, as it was in 1999 – and 1962.

“They took research and engineering out of our name, some people were concerned about that,” Kirsch said. “Is that changing what we do? No. We are still focused on ensuring that we have the latest aviation and missile technology available for our Warfighters, so they can win whatever battle we put them in front of and come home safely — or better yet be such a dominant force that nobody would pick the fight in the first place. Our number one job is deterrence and if deterrence fails, we must have the overwhelming capability to win.

“I like our name, because it really focuses on that. We’re not just creating technology for technology’s sake; we are developing combat capabilities for our Soldiers. That’s what we’re focused on.”

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The DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the Army’s research and development focal point for advanced technology in aviation and missile systems. It is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. AvMC is responsible for delivering collaborative and innovative aviation and missile capabilities for responsive and cost-effective research, development and life cycle engineering solutions, as required by the Army’s strategic priorities and support to its Cross-Functional Teams.