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History
On November 18, 1998, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army approved consolidation of developmental and operational testing. That decision led to the redesignation, on October 1, 1999, of the Operational Test and Evaluation Command (OPTEC) to ATEC.
Central to the consolidation was ATEC assuming overall responsibility for all Army developmental and operational testing. The Test and Evaluation command (TECOM) became a major subordinate command of ATEC and was redesignated the U.S. Army Developmental Test Command (DTC), with DTC headquarters remaining at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Also, the Test and Experimentation Command (TEXCOM) was redesignated the U.S. Army Operational Test Command (OTC), with OTC headquarters remaining at Fort Hood, Texas. The third ATEC subordinate command that was redesignated encompassed both the Operational Evaluation Command and the Evaluation Analysis Center, which were combined to form the new U.S. Army Evaluation Center (AEC), completing the earlier decision to move developmental and operational evaluation into a single, integrated command.
Under the consolidation, ATEC also received responsibility for installation management of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; and Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. On October 1, 2002, the respective Installation Management Activity regional office assumed that responsibility.
ATEC also took command of Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland; Redstone Test Center (RTC) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama; Electronic Proving Ground (EPG), Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC), at Fort Wainwright, Alaska; and the Tropic Regions Test Center (TRTC), headquartered at Yuma Proving Ground with testing in Hawaii and other locations.
Since its formation, ATEC has played a major role in Army Transformation. In December 1999, ATEC was in the field evaluating medium-weight armor at Fort Knox, Kentucky, during the Platform Performance Demonstration; it conducted the Interim Armored Vehicle Bid Sample Event at ATC; it compared the M113 and the Stryker at Fort Lewis, Washington, for Congress; and it conducted operational test of the Stryker in the summer of 2003 at Fort Knox.
ATEC's 9,000 military, civilian and contract employees are highly skilled test officers, engineers, scientists, technicians, researchers and evaluators that are involved in over 1,100 tests daily. ATEC's job is to make sure we send our Soldiers to war with weapon systems that work.
ATEC with 24 locations in 16 states, has an annual budget exceeding a half billion dollars. ATEC rigorously tests items of every description including everything from individual weapons....to the National Missile Defense ground-based mid-course defense systems.
When working at ATEC, employees become involved with people of many disciplines and receive "hands on" experience with the most sophisticated and advanced technology in the world.
Our staff design and use highly accurate and precise instrumentation to test sophisticated military systems under controlled conditions at testing facilities located around the country. Newly assigned personnel become involved in important projects, working closely with a wide range of specialists from other Government agencies and industries.
Today ATEC is organized into developmental testing, operational testing and evaluation.
