Picatinny Arsenal

The Picatinny Arsenal (IPAEng|ˈpɪkətɪni or IPA|/ˌpɪkəˈtɪni/) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on a convert|6400|acre|km2|0|sing=on lot in northern New Jersey. The Arsenal is the headquarters of the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center. It is known for inventing the ubiquitous Picatinny rail, the Patriot missle used in the Persian Gulf War and the Bunker Buster aerial bomb in the Iraqi War, among other things.

The facility was founded in 1880 as the "Picatinny Powder Depot". It manufactured gunpowder until after World War I, at which time the facility also began producing heavy munitions and grew more involved in research and development activities. During World War II Picatinny was a major large-caliber-round loading plant with 18,000 employees. Today, the facility develops new technologies for the US Armed Forces and builds various munitions, weapons and armor systems.

In 1891 the Navy acquired convert|317|acre|km2|1 on the Army's Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey to establish their Lake Denmark Powder Depot. On July 10, 1926, lightning struck and started a fire. As a result, several million pounds of explosives detonated over a period of 2-3 days. This left not only structural devastation, but military and civilian casualties as well. As a result of a full-scale Congressional investigation, Congress directed the establishment of the Armed Forces Explosives Safety Board to provide oversight on every aspect of explosives under the control of the US Armed Forces.

Picatinny Arsenal is also home to the US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Directorate. This group is responsible for the creation of tools, equipment, and procedures for US Army EOD personnel. Some of their more recent inventions was the use of weapons on a robot platform and the SWORDS robot. Their building has been recently renamed in honor of one of their fallen soldiers, SFC Scott "Smitty" Smith, who was killed in Iraq in July 2006.

BRAC 2005 directed the Department of Defense to establish Picatinny as the DoD Specialty Site for Guns and Ammunition, and to relocate Navy technical experts to Picatinny.

In 2007, Picatinny received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

History

The United States War Department established the Dover Powder Depot on 1880-09-06. Four days later, it changed the name to Picatinny Powder Depot.

A deed dated 1880-06-26 records the first land purchase for the future Picatinny Arsenal. Mr. George E. Righter transferred 1,195.8 acres centered on Lake Picatinny to the United States Government in return for $35,874.00. This area, afterwards known as the Middle Forge Tract because of the forge located there during the Revolutionary War, became the central area of the arsenal. In 1880 and 1881, the government also purchased tracts from Uel H. Wiggins] , Edward C. Fiedler and other, Henry and Michael Doland, and John E. Kindred. These initial purchases, including the Middle Forge Tract, covered 1,866.13 acres and cost a total of $62,750.00. At the same time, the government gave $200.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Spicer for a 50 foot strip on which to construct a road from Spicertown to the powder depot. In 1891, the Army transferred 315 acres bordering Lake Denmark to the Navy.

In 1907, the Army altered the name to Picatinny Arsenal and established its first powder factory on the site. While continuing to produce munitions, the arsenal moved into research and development work with the start of a school to instruct officers in weaponry sciences in 1911, the establishment of testing and control laboratories during the World War I era, and the beginning of a small, experimental plant for the design and development of artillery ammunition in 1919. In 1921, the arsenal took over responsibility for experimental work on fuzes.

The arsenal continued to realize its potential as a research and development facility in the years between the two world wars. Major accomplishments of this period included better methods for storing smokeless powder, improved processing of cyclonite, more commonly called RDX, and the discovery of a new explosive, haleite. The discoverer was Dr. Ceorge C. Hale, the arsenal's chief chemist.

Over the years the Army continued to make small purchases to round out arsenal boundaries, but the next major expansion came in 1941, just before the United States entered World War II. At this time, the Army purchased the land between the Cannon Gates and the present main entrance near NJ Route 15. This included Spicertown, an unincorporated village in Rockaway Township. Spicertown had declined from a relatively thriving nineteenth century community of small but profitable farms to a rather depressed area in 1941. Still, many of the residences were in good condition and house military families to this day. Near Parker Road are buildings 1123 and 1124, both acquired from the estate of John E. Larson for $16,000.00. The purchase price included 24 acres of land. Buildings 1125, 1126, and 1127 and the accompanying 12 acres cost the government $19,769.00. On the opposite side of Parker Road are buildings 1138 and 1139, acquired from Helen Jane Larsen with 1.5 acres for $10,534.00, and building 1140, the former home of Clarence and Agnes Burdette constructed around 1919. The government appraiser praised the landscaping and the grassy knoll location.

World War II interfered with the arsenal's efforts to concentrate on research and development. As one of the few facilities with the ability to manufacture munitions, it employed 18,000 people and ran three shifts turning out bombs and artillery shells. However, it still had its research triumphs, especially the development of a delay fuze for skip bombing and special bombs for dams and oil fields. It also pioneered production processes later transferred to munitions manufacturers around the country.

After World War II, Picatinny refocused its efforts on developing new weapons and munitions. Its support to the American forces in Korea included an improved bazooka and an illuminating rifle grenade. In periods of peace, the arsenal made important contributions to progress in the areas of radar, pyrotechnics, missiles, time fuzes, and nuclear munitions. When war broke out again, it gave troops in Vietnam a complete family of 40mm ammunition for grenade launchers and helicopter gun ships.

In 1977, the Army recognized Picatinny's leadership in weapons and munitions development by headquartering its Armament Research and Development Command (ARRADCOM) at the arsenal and giving it responsibility for developing small caliber weapons and munitions.

In 1983, the Army disestablished the Armament Research and Development Command and Picatinny became the home of the Armament Research and Development Center (ARDC). In 1986, the name again changed to the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC).

Lake Denmark Powder Depot

In 1891 the Navy acquired 317 acres of the Arsenal to establish their Lake Denmark Powder Depot. On 1926-07-10, lightning struck and started a fire. As a result, several million pounds of explosives detonated over a period of 2-3 days. This left not only structural devastation, but military and civilian casualties as well. As a result of a full-scale Congressional investigation, Congress directed the establishment of the Armed Forces Explosives Safety Board to provide oversight on every aspect of explosives under the control of the US Armed Forces. In 1960, the Army resumed control of land it had given the Navy, bringing the installation to its current size and shape.

Transportation

The primary vehicle for transportation in the early days of the Arsenal was the railroad. The early Wharton & Northern Railroad (succeeded by the Jersey Central) was laid from Wharton to Green Pond through the heart of the valley in which Picatinny Arsenal now resides. This line connected the various railroads serving the Wharton area with the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad at Green Pond. Picatinny maintained as much as 49 miles of its own narrow and standard gauge Picatinny Arsenal Railroad to service its many transportation needs (fuel, raw materials, ammunition, etc.). Today, rail service through the Arsenal is just a memory with only a disused weed-choked stub line into the Arsenal and scattered traces of the once busy narrow gauge railway. Some of the remaining track has been covered with macadam and turned into pedestrian walking paths.

BRAC Decision

*Create an integrated weapons & armament specialty site for guns and ammunition at Picatinny Arsenal.

Recommendations

*Consolidate the following facilities at Picatinny Arsenal:

#Adelphi Laboratory Center in Maryland
#Naval Surface Warfare Center Division at Crane, Indiana, including the Fallbrook, California, detachment.
#Naval Surface Warfare Center Division Dahlgren, Virginia,
#Louisville, Kentucky, detachment of Naval Surface Warfare Center Division, Port Hueneme, California
#Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California
#Naval Surface Warfare Center Division, Indian Head, Maryland
#Naval Surface Warfare Center Division, Earle, New Jersey

Justification

This recommendation realigns and consolidates those gun and ammunition facilities working in Weapons and Armaments (W&A) Research, Development & Acquisition (RD&A). This realignment would result in a more robust joint center for gun and ammunition Research, Development & Acquisition at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ. This location is already the greatest concentration of military value in gun and ammunition W&A RD&A.

Picatinny Arsenal is the center of mass for DoD’s Research, Development & Acquisition of guns and ammunition, with a workload more than an order of magnitude greater than any other DoD facility in this area. It also is home to the DoD’s Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition. Movement of all the Services’ guns and ammunition work to Picatinny Arsenal will create a joint center of excellence and provide synergy in armament development for the near future and beyond, featuring a Joint Packaging, Handling, Shipping and Transportation (PHS&T) Center, particularly important in this current time of high demand for guns and ammunition by all the services. Technical facilities with lower quantitative military value are relocated to Picatinny Arsenal.

This recommendation includes Research, Development & Acquisition activities in the Army and Navy. It promotes jointness, enables technical synergy, and positions the Department of Defense to exploit center-of-mass scientific, technical, and acquisition expertise within the weapons and armament Research, Development & Acquisition community that currently resides at this DoD specialty location.

ource

[http://www.pica.army.mil/PicatinnyPublic/about/history.asp| Picatinny Arsenal Historical Overview]

ee also

*Picatinny Rail

External links

* [http://www.pica.army.mil/PicatinnyPublic/index.asp Picatinny Arsenal home page]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/picatinny.htm Global Security - Picatinny Arsenal]
* [http://pentagontv.feedroom.com/?fr_story=b627c08386ea6a9d2437a09f496a8d06dea4df5e&rf=rss To Arm and Shield]
* [http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/ardec.html The Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal has been awarded the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.]