United States Army Missile Command
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The United States Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) develops, acquires, fields and sustains aviation, missile and unmanned aerial vehicles. AMCOM is primarily responsible for lifecycle management of army
missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocke ...
,
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
, unmanned ground vehicle and
unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controll ...
weapon system. The central part of AMCOM's mission involves ensuring readiness through acquisition and sustainment support for aviation systems, missile systems, and test, measurement, and diagnostic equipment (TMDE) throughout their
life cycle Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to: Science and academia *Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring * Life-cycle hypothesis ...
. The command is headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...
, has a 2019 "budget of more $3.7 billion, and a global workforce of more than 15,000 military and civilian employees". AMCOM works closely with The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center (AvMC)Amy Tolson, Aviation & Missile Center Public Affairs (10 December 2019) CCDC commanding general pays first visit to Aviation, Missile Center
(AvMC)
which operates simulation facilities to evaluate missile components, such as seekers, in a variety of flights and countermeasures environments. AMCOM also has access to several
wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
s to test full-size helicopters, a vertical motion
simulator A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...
for flight control evaluation and a crash-testing tower used to improve
safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...
. AMCOM's Test, Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment Activity provides worldwide command and control over a broad metrology and
calibration In measurement technology and metrology, calibration is the comparison of measurement values delivered by a device under test with those of a calibration standard of known accuracy. Such a standard could be another measurement device of kno ...
program. AMCOM is also the leader in foreign military sales, accounting for over 50 percent of total army sales to Allied forces and friendly foreign nations. AMCOM's main organizations are organized into "centers": :*Acquisition Center – responsible for contracting support. :*AMCOM Logistics Center (ALC) – responsible for logistics support.


LCMC

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command is an LCMC. Thus it has an associated contracting center. This LCMC Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command was formerly Aviation and Missile Command (1997). This LCMC "purchases about $1 billion worth of aircraft and missile parts each year."U.S. Army (16 December 2019) AMCOM improves readiness in 2019, looks to future
/ref>


Chronology

The U.S. Army Missile Command was formally established on 23 May 1962 at Redstone Arsenal to manage the army's missile systems. *October 1948: The
Chief of Ordnance The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a Combat service support (United States), sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee (Virginia), Fort Lee, Virginia. The ...
designates Redstone Arsenal as the center for ordnance research and development in the field of rockets. *1 June 1949: The Chief of Ordnance officially activates the arsenal as the site of the Ordnance Rocket Center. *28 October 1949: The Secretary of the Army approves the transfer of the Ordnance Research and Development Division Sub-Office (Rocket) at
Fort Bliss Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss h ...
, Texas, to Redstone Arsenal as the Ordnance Guided Missile Center. *1 February 1956: The U.S.
Army Ballistic Missile Agency The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed to develop the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956, and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Wernher von ...
(ABMA) established at Redstone Arsenal. *March, 1958: Organizations placed under the new Army Ordnance Missile Command (AOMC) include the ABMA, Redstone Arsenal, the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
, White Sands Proving Grounds and the Army Rocket and Guided Missile Agency (ARGMA) *1958: ABMA's scientific and engineering staff (
Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...
et al.) transferred to the newly created
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
Marshall Space Flight Center at the southern half of Redstone Arsenal *1958: The Pershing Project Manager's Office was created. *23 May 1962: U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) officially established;, fully staffed and operational on 1 August 1962. *28 February 1964: The U.S. Army Aviation and Surface Material Command redesignated as the U.S. Army Aviation Materiel Command (AVCOM). *23 September 1968: AVCOM redesignated the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command (AVSCOM). *1 July 1977: AVSCOM discontinued and its readiness mission combined with that of the U.S. Army Troop Support Command (TROSCOM) to form the U.S. Army Troop Support and Aviation Materiel Readiness Command (TSARCOM). AVSCOM's aviation research and development mission assigned to the newly established U.S. Army Aviation Research and Development Command (AVRADCOM). *1 March 1984: AVSCOM reestablished and all missions and activities of AVRADCOM and the aviation related missions and activities of the Troop Support and Aviation Materiel Readiness Command transferred to AVSCOM. *1 October 1992: Army Aviation and Troop Command established, consolidating the existing missions of AVSCOM and TROSCOM less those missions and organizations transferred to other commands. *8 September 1995: Congress approves the
1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission preliminary list was released by the United States Department of Defense in 1995 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. It recommended closing 32 major United States military bases. ...
list, disestablishing ATCOM and transfers its mission and organizations to Redstone Arsenal to merge with the Army Missile Command to form AMCOM. *17 July 1997: Army Aviation and Missile Command is provisionally established. *1 October 1997: AMCOM formally established at Redstone Arsenal with the merger of the U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) at Redstone Arsenal and the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command (ATCOM) at
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...


List of commanding generals

*Major General James R. Myles, *Major General James E. Rogers, 10 September 2010 *Major General Lynn A. Collyar, 1 June 2012 *Major General James M. Richardson, 12 June 2014 *Major General
Douglas Gabram Douglas M. Gabram is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who last served as the Commanding General of the United States Army Installation Management Command. Previously, he served as the Director for Test of the Missile Defense Agenc ...
, 18 February 2016 *William Marriott, 14 February 2019 (acting) *Major General K. Todd Royar, 10 June 2019 *Major General Thomas W. O'Connor Jr., 12 August 2022


See also

*
Anti-aircraft warfare Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...
*
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their termina ...
(THAAD)


References


External links


Official site
{{authority control Aviation and Missile Command Aviation and Missile Command