Ft. Hood operational testers break ground on new
Technology Integration Center Lab
by Mr. Michael M Novogradac (Hood)
From left to right, Brian Dosa, Fort Hood
Directorate of Public Works director, Col. Henry Perry, Fort Hood
Garrison commander, Col. Ronald McNamara, U.S. Army Operational Test
Command chief of staff, Command Sgt. Maj. Mario Terenas, USAOTC senior
enlisted leader, and John Diem, USAOTC executive director, shovel dirt
during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Army Test and Evaluation
Command's (ATEC) Technology Integration Center (ATIC) Laboratory at West
Fort Hood, Texas Feb. 1. (Photo Credit: Mr.
Michael M Novogradac (Hood))
WEST FORT HOOD, Texas -- A groundbreaking for the Army
Test and Evaluation Command's (ATEC) Technology
Integration Center (ATIC) Laboratory took place in the
U.S. Army Operational Test Command's (USAOTC) footprint
here Feb. 1.
The new lab will bring together testers, engineers,
analysts and technicians to support test planning,
technology selection, and preparation for operational
testing, according to John W. Diem, executive director
of the U.S. Army Operational Test Command.
Diem said the new lab will help troops get better gear
faster, since the new facility will consolidate test
data collectors across Fort Hood and will allow better
communication with other research facilities across the
country.
"Things that folks at home are familiar with -- the
Stryker, the Abrams, the Bradley combat vehicles, our
unmanned aerial systems, the Apache helicopter -- those
are all undergoing major updates and modernization,"
Diem said.
"This facility -- while it may never be visible to the
Soldiers that are downrange -- is a major part of
ensuring their equipment is going to work," he added.
Designed to be reconfigurable for a wide variety of
uses, the lab can hold up to 150 people who will be
looking at the best ways to design operational tests
using the latest technology and methods.
It will also have large areas where vehicles and other
systems under test can be brought indoors.
Diem said the new ATIC lab will allow USAOTC to reduce
common problems of the past with training,
experimentation and transferring data between users who
need it.
Construction of the $4.6 million facility should be
complete January 2019.
~~
About the U.S. Army Operational Test Command
USAOTC is based at West Fort Hood, Texas, and its
mission is about making sure that systems developed are
effective in a Soldier's hands and suitable for the
environments in which Soldiers operate. Test units and
their Soldiers offer their feedback, which influences
the future by offering input to improve upon existing
and future systems that Soldiers will ultimately use to
train and fight.
.jpg "From left to right, Brian Dosa, Fort Hood Directorate of Public Works director, Col. Henry Perry, Fort Hood Garrison commander, Col. Ronald McNamara, U.S. Army Operational Test Command chief of staff, Command Sgt. Maj. Mario Terenas, USAOTC senior enlisted leader, and John Diem, USAOTC executive director, shovel dirt during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Army Test and Evaluation Command's (ATEC) Technology Integration Center (ATIC) Laboratory at West Fort Hood, Texas Feb. 1. (Photo Credit: Mr. Michael M Novogradac (Hood))")