The U.S. Army Operational Test Command will activate a new test directorate at Fort Bliss to plan and execute tests, assessments and experiments in support of network integration and other priority Army systems.

Col. Dave Wellons, former leader of the command's Fires Test Directorate at Fort Sill, Okla., has been selected to command the new Integrated Test and Evaluation Directorate.

The activation ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. Friday at the Fort Bliss and Old Ironsides Museum.

Brig. Gen. Don MacWillie, who leads the command, said the directorate will be a balanced mix of active duty and Department of the Army civilian testers.

"The establishment of this new test directorate supports the Army's mission to develop, test and evaluate the Army network for complete synchronization of network assets," he said. "We are responding to the vice chief of staff's (Gen. Peter Chiarelli) direction to facilitate testing and development of network integration at a common location and time, specifically, the Fort Bliss and White Sands Missile Range region."

Sixty-three authorized positions (27 military and 36 civilian employees) will comprise the directorate.

The Human Resource Command and the Civilian Personnel Activity Center at Fort Bliss are working with the command to fill both military and civilian positions.

The command's facilities at Fort Bliss, currently occupied by the directorate's Missile Test Division, are adequate to sustain personnel and equipment for the new directorate, Wellons said.

The command's headquarters, a subordinate command of the Army Test and Evaluation Command, is located at Fort Hood, along with four test directorates: Aviation, Maneuver Support and Sustainment, Maneuver, and Mission Command.