The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) is the sole fundamental research laboratory of the United States Army. DEVCOM ARL is a component unit of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM).
Known simply as the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at its inception, it was established in 1992 to consolidate multiple Army research elements and form a centralized laboratory for scientific research, experimentation, and analysis. Most of the laboratory was constituted by the seven laboratories that comprised the U.S. Army Laboratory Command (LABCOM): the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory (ASL), the Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL), the Electronics Technology and Devices Laboratory (ETDL), the Harry Diamond Laboratories (HDL), the Human Engineering Laboratory (HEL), the Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL), and the Vulnerability Assessment Laboratory (VAL). In 1998, the Army Research Office (ARO) was incorporated into the laboratory.
Organization
DEVCOM ARL is headquartered at the Adelphi Laboratory Center in Adelphi, Maryland. The laboratory operates additional facilities in several locations around the country, most notably at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
DEVCOM ARL conducts fundamental scientific research through both intramural and extramural means. The laboratory's in-house research is performed by its Army Research Directorate, which helms the laboratory's flagship research efforts. The Army Research Office (ARO), which operates as the U.S. Army's extramural basic research arm, administers funding for Army-relevant research to universities and businesses across the United States as part of DEVCOM ARL.
Regional sites
DEVCOM ARL manages five regional sites to facilitate research and business partnerships with industry and universities in the surrounding area. ARL West, located in California, specializes in human-information interaction, cybersecurity, embedded processing, and intelligent systems. ARL Central, located in Illinois, specializes in high performance computing, impact physics, machine learning and data analytics, materials and manufacturing, power and energy, propulsion science, and quantum science. ARL South, located in Texas, specializes in artificial intelligence, energy and power, cybersecurity, materials and manufacturing, and biology. ARL Northeast, located in Massachusetts, specializes in materials and manufacturing, artificial intelligence and intelligent systems, and cybersecurity. ARL Mid-Atlantic, located in Maryland, specializes in high-performance computing, autonomous systems, human-agent teaming, cybersecurity, materials and manufacturing, power and energy, extreme materials, and quantum systems.
University Affiliated Research Centers DEVCOM ARL manages two University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) for the U.S. Army. The Institute of Collaborative Biotechnologies, a UARC led by the University of California, Santa Barbara, focuses on technological innovations in systems biology, synthetic biology, bio-enabled materials, and cognitive neuroscience. The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, a UARC led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focuses on the advancement of nanotechnology to create new materials, devices, processes, and systems to improve Army capabilities.
Technology and Research Alliances DEVCOM ARL collaborates with private industry and academia through Collaborative Technology Alliances (CTAs) and Collaborative Research Alliances (CRAs). CTAs represent partnerships that focus on the rapid transition of new innovations and technologies found in academia to the U.S. manufacturing base through cooperation with private industry. CRAs represent partnerships that seek to further develop innovative science and technology in academia that pertains to Army interests. Globally, DEVCOM ARL engaged in International Technology Alliances (ITAs) which facilitate collaborations for research and development with foreign government entities alongside academia and private industry.
History
Background (1962–1985) The U.S. Army elements that merged to form the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) trace their roots back to the research laboratories established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. These laboratories provided research and development capabilities to the U.S. Army's technical services that extended beyond traditional electronics and weapons research, covering a wide range of scientific disciplines, to keep pace with the speed of technological development after the Second World War.
In 1962, the authority over the research laboratories transferred to the newly created U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) as part of a major Army reorganization. During this transition, AMC combined the Watertown Arsenal Laboratories and the Ordnance Materials Research Office to form the Army Materials Research Agency. The facilities associated with the Ordnance Corps—the Ballistic Research Laboratory, the Human Engineering Laboratory, the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories, and the Army Materials Research Agency—reported directly to AMC headquarters. On the other hand, the facilities associated with the Signal Corps—the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory, the Electronic Components Laboratory, and the Signal Missile Support Agency—reported to a major subordinate command in AMC called the Electronics Command (ECOM).Over the next two decades, AMC repeatedly reorganized the laboratories and assigned them under different major subordinate commands based on the conclusions of various committee reviews. During this time period, the command itself underwent a name change from AMC to the Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM) in 1976 and then back to AMC in 1984. In 1985, AMC officially activated the U.S. Army Laboratory Command (LABCOM) under the direction of Commanding General Richard H. Thompson to assemble all the laboratories under a single major subordinate command. LABCOM contained the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory, the Ballistic Research Laboratory, the Electronics Technology and Devices Laboratory, the Harry Diamond Laboratories, the Human Engineering Laboratory, the Materiel and Mechanics Research Center (renamed the Materials Technology Laboratory during the transition), the Office of Missile Electronic Warfare (renamed the Vulnerability Assessment Laboratory during the transition), and the Army Research Office. AMC tasked LABCOM with advancing basic and applied research, facilitating technology transfer, and providing independent technical advice for the U.S. Army. While management over the laboratories was centralized under a single command, the research facilities were not physically relocated and remained dispersed across the country.
Formation of ARL (1988–1992) In December 1988, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) identified the Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL) in Watertown, Massachusetts, for closure due to its outdated facilities. In opposition to MTL's planned closure, LABCOM explored alternative solutions that would allow the laboratory and its capabilities to remain intact in some form. In 1989, LABCOM introduced a proposal to establish a single physical entity that would consolidate all of its laboratories, including MTL, in one location.
Around the same time, President George H. W. Bush directed Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney to develop a plan to fully implement the recommendations made by the Packard Commission. As a result of this directive, the U.S. Army chartered the LAB-21 Study to evaluate the future of Army in-house research, development, and engineering activities. Conducted from November 1989 to February 1990, the LAB-21 Study made recommendations that aligned with LABCOM's proposal for a single, centralized flagship laboratory. A second study known as the Laboratory Consolidation Study took place in June 1990 and endorsed the Army's plan to consolidate the laboratories under LABCOM. However, the proposal was modified to establish the centralized laboratory at two major sites—Adelphi, Maryland and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland—accompanied by elements at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico and at NASA facilities in Hampton, Virginia, and Cleveland, Ohio.
In April 1991, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) submitted the recommendations from the LAB-21 Study for the 1991 BRAC. The laboratory consolidation plan was subsequently endorsed by the BRAC and approved by President Bush. Although the proposed centralized laboratory was originally referred to as the Combat Materiel Research Laboratory in the LAB-21 Study, the name was ultimately changed to the Army Research Laboratory. The Army also decided to have a civilian director occupy the top management position with a general officer as deputy, as opposed to the original plan of having a major general serve as a military commander alongside a civilian technical director.
The U.S. Army discontinued LABCOM and provisionally established the U.S. Army Research Laboratory on July 23, 1992. The seven LABCOM laboratories were consolidated to form ARL's ten technical directorates. Other Army elements that ARL absorbed included the Low Observable Technology and Application (LOTA) Office, the Survivability Management Office (SMO), a portion of the Signatures, Sensors, and Signal Processing Technology Organization (S3TO), the Advanced Systems Concepts Office (ASCO), the Army Institute for Research in Management Information Communications and Computer Sciences (AIRMICS), a portion of the Systems Research Laboratory (SRL), a portion of the Chemical Research, Development, and Engineering Center (CRDEC), a portion of the Army Air Mobility Research and Development Laboratory (AMRDL), a portion of the Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) Research, Development, and Engineering Center, a portion of the Belvoir Research, Development, and Engineering Center, and a portion of the Night Vision and Electro-Optics Laboratory (NVEOL).