PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. – The new commanding general of U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, or DEVCOM, visited Picatinny Arsenal from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., on Aug. 7, his first time at the northern New Jersey military installation and the first since taking command in June.
The visit from Brig. Gen. Robert Born comes several months after a comprehensive modernization campaign was launched to overhaul the Army's structure, technology, and operational mindset for 21st-century warfare.
“This is arguably one of the biggest transformations that the Army has undergone, certainly in the last 50 years, and potentially in our history when you look at how we are reorganizing the U.S. Army to address a modern battlefield and changing and evolving threats to our nation,” Born said as he addressed the Armaments Center workforce during a town hall meeting in the Lindner Conference Center.
Upon his arrival to Picatinny earlier in the morning, Born met with Chris Grassano, Director, DEVCOM Armaments Center, one of seven technology centers that fall under the commanding general’s purview that plays a vital role in the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI).
The U.S. Army has long given the Armaments Center the immense responsibility of being its primary research and development center for new and existing armament systems, which are used by U.S. service members around the world.
The visiting general then proceeded to receive a first-hand look at Armament Center technologies that support lethal uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), counter-UAS (c-UAS), fire control, fuze and precision, while touring the SFC Michael J. Goble Armaments Integration Facility, aptly named after a fallen U.S. Army Soldier from the Garden State.
Earlier in the year, Dan Driscoll, Secretary of the Army, and Gen. Randy A. George, Chief of Staff of the Army, issued a letter to the force to talk about the ATI rollout, highlighting areas that focus on Armaments Center capabilities and technologies.
“We will introduce long-range missiles and modernized UAS into formations, field the M1E3 tank, develop the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, and close the C-sUAS capability gap,” the Army leaders stated in that memo.
With the increasing use of UAS, there's a growing need to develop expertise in integrating munitions and fire control systems on UAS platforms for greater lethality, while also advancing c-UAS technologies, which involve detecting, identifying, and mitigating threats from unauthorized or malicious drones. To that end, the Armaments Center is applying decades of armaments system expertise to create a robust ecosystem of technologies that will assist the Army and Department of Defense in achieving their goal of drone dominance.
Born also toured the Davidson Advanced Warhead Facility, which provides a safe, secure, cost-effective and environmentally acceptable means of conducting tests for terminal ballistic evaluation of armor defeating warheads, and the Explosive Development Facility which conducts explosive experimentation for government agencies and private industry through cooperative agreements.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, is Army Futures Command’s leader and integrator within a global ecosystem of scientific exploration and technological innovation. DEVCOM expertise spans eight major competency areas to provide integrated research, development, analysis and engineering support to the Army and DOD. From rockets to robots, drones to dozers, and aviation to artillery, DEVCOM innovation is at the core of the combat capabilities American Warfighters need to win on the battlefield of the future.
DEVCOM also oversees a research laboratory, the Artificial Intelligence Integration Center, and three international hubs, where all components work together as one team in support of DEVCOM’s mission.