The Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (CCDC SC), formerly the United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, is a military research complex and installation in Natick, Massachusetts, charged by the U.S. Department of Defense with the research and development (including fielding and sustainment) of food, clothing, shelters, airdrop systems, and other servicemember support items for the U.S. military.[2][3] It is a component unit of the United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command and is a tenant unit of the United States Army Natick Soldier Systems Center (SSC).[4] The installation includes facilities from all the military services, not just the Army, and is so configured to allow cross-service cooperation and collaboration both within the facility and with the many academic, industrial and governmental institutions in the Greater Boston Area.
The CCDC is subordinate to United States Army Futures Command (AFC) headquartered in Austin, Texas, which was activated in July 2018. Futures Command was formerly U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
The SSC is sometimes called the Natick Army Labs, although this designation more properly refers to one of its tenant units, the United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center.
The installation
The SSC occupies 78 acres (320,000 m2) at its main Natick campus and has an additional 46 acres (190,000 m2) in neighboring communities. The main campus is located to the northwest of Natick center and abuts upon Lake Cochituate.
Employee/tenant numbers total 1,957 (159 military personnel, 1,048 civilians and 750 contractors).
The SSC public relations office reports that the installation’s FY2006 funding totaled approximately $1 billion and that the facilities infuse more than $135 million annually into the local economy through installation salaries, utilities and local contracts.
The installation commander is a U.S. Army Brigadier General, currently BG Vincent Malone, who also serves as the Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command.
Mission
The SSC includes facilities designed to research and test both materials (textiles, combat rations), advanced technologies and human performance (human research volunteers) under simulated environmental extremes (altitude, heat, cold, wind, etc.). The requirement for improved combat rations has led to groundbreaking developments in the field of food irradiation and freeze-drying techniques. Improved body armor, new military parachuting technology, and enhanced military garments designed for a variety of environments are all ongoing efforts.
History
Construction of the Quartermaster Research Facility at Natick, authorized by Congress in October 1949, began in November 1952. A year later, the QRF was redesignated as the Quartermaster Research and Development Center and four years later as the Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command.
Natick Laboratories became a subordinate element to the Troop Support Command in July 1973 and was redesignated two years later as the U.S. Army Natick Development Center and reassigned to the AMC. The NDC was redesignated the U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Command in January 1976 and assigned to the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command. (The same month, AMC was redesignated the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM).)
In September 1980, the NRDC was redesignated as the U.S. Army Natick Research & Development Laboratories and three years later as the U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Center, a subordinate element of the U.S. Army Troop Support Command in St. Louis, Missouri. (DARCOM and TSC merged in July 1992 forging the U.S. Army Aviation & Troop Command, St. Louis, Mo.)
In 1982, Natick Labs surrendered control of 3,100 acres in the Massachusetts towns of Hudson, Maynard, Stow and Sudbury to Fort Devens to become a field training facility. The land had been an ordnance supply depot during World War II. After being an Environmental Protection Agency "superfund" cleanup site in the 1990s it became the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge.
In October 1992, the NRDC was redesignated the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, still a subordinate element of the ATC. A U.S. Army Soldier Systems Command (SSC) was activated at Natick in November 1994. Elements subsequently established at the SSC included the Sustainment & Readiness Directorate (February 1995) and Product Manager-Soldier Support (October 1995); elements subsequently relocated to Natick included the Clothing and Services Office (October 1996; from Ft. Lee, Virginia) and Product Manager-Force Provider (June 1997). The Sustainment & Readiness Directorate became the Integrated Material Management Center in October 1997. SSC merged with the Chemical Biological Defense Command to become the Soldier and Biological Chemical Command in October 1998. At this time the installation was renamed the United States Army Soldier Systems Center. At some time prior to January 2017 the installation was renamed Soldier Systems Center Natick.[5]
Tenant units and facilities
The SSC hosts several tenant units and facilities at its Natick installation:
The United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (CCDC SC),[2] formerly known as United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), or as the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC), or as The Natick Army Labs, an element of the United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), formerly U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
