U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, or ATEC, is a direct reporting unit of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

responsible for developmental testing, independent operational testing, independent evaluations, assessments, and experiments of Army equipment.U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command Official Homepage
U.S. Army, last accessed 1 February 2018 ATEC is located throughout the continental United States and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Command headquarters is located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, History
U.S. Army, last accessed 1 February 2018

History

Consolidation of all Army developmental and operational testing commands was approved by the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army on 18 Nov. 1998. The decision led to the redesignation of the Operational Test and Evaluation Command to ATEC on 1 Oct. 1999. All major subordinate commands of OPTEC were redesignated as well with the Test and Evaluation command redesignated as the U.S. Army Developmental Test Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground; the Test and Experimentation Command was redesignated the U.S. Army Operational Test Command,

Fort Hood, Texas Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquart ...

; and the Operational Evaluation Command and the Evaluation Analysis Center were combined to form the new U.S. Army Evaluation Center located at

Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work a ...

Operations

ATEC conducts testing for all branches of the military and maintains a large customer base that includes the National Security Agency, Joint Chiefs of Staff, allied foreign countries, and Congress. ATEC employs approximately 9,000 military, civilian and contract employees that are highly skilled test officers, engineers, scientists, technicians, researchers, and evaluators. ATEC is involved in more than 1,100 tests daily that encompass everything from individual weapons to National Missile Defense systems. The annual budget for the command is in excess of half a billion dollars.U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, Organization
U.S. Army, last accessed 1 February 2018

Test centers

(APG) **Army Evaluation Center (AEC) **Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) **Joint Test Element (JTE) *

Dugway Proving Ground Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a U.S. Army facility established in 1942 to test biological and chemical weapons, located about southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, and south of the Utah Test and Training Range. Location Dugway P ...

(DPG) **West Desert Test Center (WDTC) * Redstone Test Center (RTC) *

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...

(WSMR) **White Sands Test Center (WSTC) *

Yuma Proving Ground Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is a United States Army series of environmentally specific test centers with its Yuma Test Center being one of the largest military installations in the world. It is subordinate to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation ...

(YPG) **Yuma Test Center (YTC) **Tropic Regions Test Center (TRTC) ** Cold Region Test Center (CRTC) Operational Test Command (OTC) locations: *

Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarter ...

: **OTC headquarters **Aviation Test Directorate **Maneuver Test Directorate **Maneuver Support and Sustainment Test Directorate **Mission Command Test Directorate *

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cu ...

: Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate *

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 William Wallace Smith Bliss, LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President ...

: Air Defense Artillery Test Directorate *

Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...

: Fires Test Directorate *

Fort Huachuca Fort Huachuca is a United States Army installation, established on 3 March 1877 as Camp Huachuca. The garrison is now under the command of the United States Army Installation Management Command. It is in Cochise County in southeast Arizona, ap ...

: Intelligence Electronic Warfare Test Directorate

History

Operations

Test centers

See also

References

Further reading