ARL Weapons and Materials Research Directorate

The ARL Weapons and Materials Research Directorate is a national scientific and engineering resource in weapons, protection, and materials technologies. Throughout the Directorate, we pursue research and technology development that endeavors to enhance the operational capability of America's ground forces. We have an outstanding staff of highly trained scientists and engineers, experienced technicians, and a variety of experimental facilities, many of which are unique in the U.S. and the world. Our research efforts span the gap between basic research that improves the understanding of scientific phenomena and technology generation that supports weapon and protection system developments and fielded system upgrades.

The Directorate mission is to lead the Army's research and technology program to enhance the lethality and survivability of the individual Soldier and advanced weapon systems.

Our Lethality theme is to deliver the right lethality for the right threat at the right time, which can be accomplished by providing critical technology for affordable and scalable weapons effects across the full spectrum of operations.

Our Survivability theme is to couple innovative materials with protection technologies to enable a lightweight and survivable force.

The many successes of our Directorate and its predecessors have made a dramatic difference to our nation's military capability throughout the 20th Century and into this century. We seek to continue our legacy of technological leadership with the pursuit of advanced concepts and technologies that can solve the problems of today's Army and the new challenges of the Global War on Terrorism and the Future Force.