Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center
42°17′18″N 71°21′40″W / 42.28833°N 71.36111°W
United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center | |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Branch | Army |
Type | Research and development |
Part of | United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command |
Garrison/HQ | Natick, Massachusetts |
Website | CCDC Soldier Center official website |
United States Army Natick Soldier Systems Center | |
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Country | United States |
Branch | Army |
Type | Research and development |
Garrison/HQ | Natick, Massachusetts |
Website | Natick Soldier Systems Center official website |
Commanders | |
Senior Commander | Brig. Gen. James Bienlien [1] |
The Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (CCDC SC), formerly the United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, is a military research complex and installation in Natick, Massachusetts, charged by the U.S. Department of Defense with the research and development (including fielding and sustainment) of food, clothing, shelters, airdrop systems, and other servicemember support items for the U.S. military.[2][3] It is a component unit of the United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command and is a tenant unit of the United States Army Natick Soldier Systems Center (SSC).[4] The installation includes facilities from all the military services, not just the Army, and is so configured to allow cross-service cooperation and collaboration both within the facility and with the many academic, industrial and governmental institutions in the Greater Boston Area.
The CCDC is subordinate to United States Army Futures Command (AFC) headquartered in Austin, Texas, which was activated in July 2018. Futures Command was formerly U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
The SSC is sometimes called the Natick Army Labs, although this designation more properly refers to one of its tenant units, the United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center.
The installation
The SSC occupies 78 acres (320,000 m2) at its main Natick campus and has an additional 46 acres (190,000 m2) in neighboring communities. The main campus is located to the northwest of Natick center and abuts upon Lake Cochituate.
Employee/tenant numbers total 1,957 (159 military personnel, 1,048 civilians and 750 contractors).
The SSC public relations office reports that the installation’s FY2006 funding totaled approximately $1 billion and that the facilities infuse more than $135 million annually into the local economy through installation salaries, utilities and local contracts.
The installation commander is a U.S. Army
Mission
The SSC includes facilities designed to research and test both materials (textiles, combat rations), advanced technologies and human performance (human research volunteers) under simulated environmental extremes (altitude, heat, cold, wind, etc.). The requirement for improved combat rations has led to groundbreaking developments in the field of
History
Construction of the Quartermaster Research Facility at Natick, authorized by Congress in October 1949, began in November 1952. A year later, the QRF was redesignated as the Quartermaster Research and Development Center and four years later as the Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command.
July 1961 saw the activation of the
Natick Laboratories became a subordinate element to the Troop Support Command in July 1973 and was redesignated two years later as the U.S. Army Natick Development Center and reassigned to the AMC. The NDC was redesignated the U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Command in January 1976 and assigned to the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command. (The same month, AMC was redesignated the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM).)
In September 1980, the NRDC was redesignated as the U.S. Army Natick Research & Development Laboratories and three years later as the U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Center, a subordinate element of the U.S. Army Troop Support Command in St. Louis, Missouri. (DARCOM and TSC merged in July 1992 forging the U.S. Army Aviation & Troop Command, St. Louis, Mo.)
In 1982, Natick Labs surrendered control of 3,100 acres in the Massachusetts towns of Hudson, Maynard, Stow and Sudbury to
In October 1992, the NRDC was redesignated the
Tenant units and facilities
The SSC hosts several tenant units and facilities at its Natick installation:
- The United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (CCDC SC),[2] formerly known as United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), or as the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC), or as The Natick Army Labs, an element of the United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), formerly U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
- The U. S. Army Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRMC), headquartered at Fort Detrick, MD, USA.
- The United States Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM)
- The United States Army Integrated Logistics and Support Center (ILSC)
- The United States Coast Guard Clothing Design and Technical Office (CDTO)
- The United States Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility
- The Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier
- The United States Army Product Manager Force Sustainment Systems (PM FSS)
- The United States Army RDECOM Acquisition Center - Natick, the Natick Contracting Division of RDECOM AC, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
- An office of the General Services Administration (GSA)
- An office of the Hanscom Federal Credit Union
- An office of the United States Health Services Command
- An office of the Defense Automated Printing Service
- An office of the United States Army Audit Agency
- The Doriot Climatic Chamber Complex
- Combat Rations Production and Packaging Facility
- 3-D Anthropometrics Laboratory
- Camouflage Evaluation Facility
- Rain Court
- Hydro-Environmental Chamber
- Shade Room
- Fiber Plant
- Thermal and Flame Laboratory
- Military Operations in Urban Environment (MOUT) Lab/Facility
Products and systems
Natick Labs has developed or is developing the following items or systems:
- Meal, Ready-to-Eat
- Unitized Group Ration
- Irradiated food[6]
- The "instant chapel"[6]
- Bulletproof clothing[6]
- MOLLE Load-carriage Equipment
- Land Warrior
- Future Soldier
- Future Force Warrior
- Collective Protection Shelters
- Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops
- Interceptor Body Armor
- Quarpel, a water-repellent, water and stain resistant textile treatment[7]
See also
- Future Integrated Soldier Technology
- Armed Forces Recipe Service (maintained by Natick Labs until 2009)
- Close quarters combat
- Close combat
- Small unit tactics
- List of military installations in Massachusetts
References
- ^ John Harlow (11 May 2020) Brig. Gen. James Bienlien
- ^ a b "NSRDEC, now the CCDC Soldier Center, has a new name and a bright future" at army.mil
- ^ CCDC Soldier Center official website
- ^ U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center official website
- ^ Video on Soldier Systems Center Natick official Facebook site
- ^ a b c Roy Rivenburg (Aug 25, 2002). "The Army's Mad Lab". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2010-12-06.
- ^ "Technology transfer highlights through the years at the Natick Soldier Center". United States Army Soldier Systems Center. Archived from the original on 2009-09-19. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
- Earls, Alan R., (2005) U.S. Army Natick Laboratories: The Science Behind the Soldier (Series: Images of America), Arcadia Publishing.
This article contains information that originally came from US Government publications and websites and is in the public domain.
External links
- Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier
- Official SSC Website
- Official Garrison Website
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. MA-52, "Natick Research & Development Laboratories, U.S. Army Natick Research, Development & Engineering Center, Natick, Middlesex County, MA", 38 data pages
- HAER No. MA-52-A, "Natick Research & Development Laboratories, Climatic Chambers Building", 25 photos, 28 data pages, 3 photo caption pages