United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center

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U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center

Active	1977-present^[1]
Country	United States
Branch	U.S. Army
Type	Research and Development
Size	2500 people^[2]


Parent unit	United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command

The United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, (ARDEC) headquartered at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, is the US Army's primary research and development arm for armament and munitions systems. Besides Picatinny, ARDEC has four other research facilities, including Benet Laboratories.^[3] It is heavily involved in the development of the Future Combat Systems program and also works to develop more advanced weapons using technologies such as microwaves, lasers and nano-technology.

ARDEC's mission is to "improve already fielded items, develop new ones, maintain a strong armament technology base in government, industry and academia and provide technical support to the soldier in the field." ^[4]

ARDEC is broken into a number of directorates such as "Weapons Systems and Technology Directorate" and "Munitions Systems and Technology Directorate".^[5]

Link ^[6]