1985
FY 85 Several MICOM organizations underwent name and mission changes as well as functional realignments this year to comply with AMC directives aimed at standardizing the various organizational structures and functional responsibilities at its major subordinate commands. The Parts Acquisition Program Office was redesignated the Competition Management Office effective 1 April 85; the Army Missile Laboratory become the Research, Development, and Engineering (RD&E) Center on 17 May 85; and the Procurement and Production Directorate was renamed the Procurement Directorate.
FY 85 MICOM hired a University of Alabama archaeologist through the Internal Governmental Personnel Act to help with the Archaeological Overview and Management Plan for Redstone Arsenal. Numerous archaeological sites were surveyed and reported, along with ongoing archival and historical research.
FY 85 Full production of the Swedish AT-4 recoilless rifle began.
FY 85 As promised, the U.S. Army began transitioning HAWK major items to the USMC during this year.
FY 85 DA directed MICOM to remove all REDEYE missiles from Panama and send them to Hawaii.
FY 85 STINGER production passed the 10,000th missile mark.
FY 85 The 193d Infantry Brigade, Panama, was the first FORSCOM unit to receive the TOW 2 system.
January 85 Although AMC initially instructed MICOM to proceed with the procurement of the AVENGER system from Boeing, the command informed the contractor during this month that its unsolicited proposal of October 84 could not be accepted because of the lack of requirements or funding for the system in FY 85.
January 85 Delivery of the XM85 Towed CHAPARRAL fire units to the 9th ID began.
January 18-22 85Marine Corps personnel manned a HAWK firing unit during successful firings of
January 85 the SPARROW/HAWK at the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California.
21 January 85 The MICOM Commander approved a full release of the CHAPARRAL M48A2 system to U.S. Forces.
31 January 85 Using the total package/unit materiel fielding (TP/UMF) concept, the 3d ID was fielded with its MLRS equipment, completing all divisional deployments of the system to Europe.
February 85 DA authorized the award of a contract to the joint venture of Holmes & Narver Service, Inc./Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc. for base operations of Redstone Arsenal. As a result, about 650 RASA civilian jobs were eliminated. Through reduction-in-force procedures, all permanent employees were offered continued government employment elsewhere within MICOM or with other local Army agencies. Temporary employees were not afforded continued federal employment, but were entitled to the right of first refusal of contractor job vacancies as were permanent employees.
February 85 The USMC evaluated their Light Armored Vehicle-Air Defense System at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Florida, using a 25mm GAU-12 cannon and an ATAS launcher. Three STINGER launches, including one stationary flight and two shoot-on-the-move, resulted in direct hits on QH-50 drone helicopters and a one-seventh scale remotely piloted vehicle (RPV).
March 85 A market survey, undertaken after DA and AMC required the STINGER Project Office to develop various preliminary approaches to procure a PMS as a non-developmental item (NDI), identified the SETTER as a potential candidate in addition to Boeing's AVENGER.
March 85 DA and OSD approved the development of an antitactical missile (ATM) mission for HAWK.
March 85 The first European PATRIOT battalion-the 4th Battalion/3d ADA-was accepted and site certified.
March 85 The VCSA approved development of the TOW Lethality Improvement Program as an interim capability against the evolving threat of the 1990s.
April 85 AML received its seventh DA award for laboratory excellence. AML was recognized for its outstanding scientific, technical, and managerial achievements in FY 84.
April 85 PATRIOT joined NATO.
1 April 85 Effective this date, the mission of the MICOM Parts Acquisition Program Office was expanded to include competition management. It was also redesignated the Competition Management Office to comply with the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 and implementing guidance from AMC. The chief of the new office became the Competition Advocate for MICOM.
4 April 85 The first fielding of a CONUS battery under the TP/UMF concept was completed when C Battery of the 1st Battalion, 27th Field Artillery (FA), stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, with the 4th ID (Mechanized), formally accepted its MLRS equipment.
9 April 85 MICOM provisionally established the Air Defense Program Manager's Office (ADPMO) to consolidate responsibility for all the command's air defense systems under one manager.
10 April 85 As a result of ADPMO's formation, the JATM System Project Office (Provisional) was abolished effective this date. Its program responsibilities were reassigned to the newly created ADPMO JATM Office.
10 April 85 The MICOM International Logistics Directorate was renamed the Security Assistance Management Directorate (SAMD). The new directorate consolidated the management of the MICOM security assistance programs under one organization.
30 April 85 The Army Chief of Staff directed that the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency assume command and control of the U.S. Army Foreign Service and Technology Center and the Missile Intelligence Agency. The latter organization had previously operated as a separate activity under the jurisdiction of the MICOM commander.
May 85 The Huntsville Division of Morton Thiokol, Inc. opened a new production line on the south end of Redstone Arsenal.
May 85 The first TRADOC unit was equipped with the HELLFIRE as scheduled. By year's end, TRADOC had received all of its HELLFIRE equipment, repair parts, and technical publications.
13 May 85 The Management Information Systems Directorate became the Information Management Directorate (IMD) to comply with DA guidelines that all information activities be streamlined.
17 May 85 As a result of a comprehensive review and evaluation of Army laboratories, DA unveiled a two-phase plan of action aimed at improving the quality, productivity, and effectiveness of its laboratory system. The U.S. Army Laboratory Command (LABCOM) was established as an AMC major subordinate command (MSC) during the first phase. In the second phase, AMC's existing commodity oriented laboratories, which would serve as technical centers of excellence, were renamed. In compliance with higher headquarters commands, MICOM's AML was redesignated the RD&E Center.
23 May 85 COL (Ret) Carroll D. Hudson, Redstone Arsenal's first commander, returned to the installation as an honored guest for Huntsville, Alabama's annual Armed Forces Celebration.
30 May 85 AMC directed that operational suitability tests of the SETTER be conducted and an acquisition strategy be developed, based on a candidate test and evaluation competition to determine whether the AVENGER or SETTER would best meet the Army's PMS requirements.
June 85 DA decided to extend the nuclear-only LANCE shelf life to 1995.
3 June 85 MICOM officially opened a One Stop Employment Center, the first of its kind in AMC. The center's objective was to provide a systematic, cost effective approach to providing employment, information, and referral services to both Army and civilian employee family members.
19 June 85 Deployment to the Headquarters, Headquarters and Service (HHS) and A Batteries, 4th Battalion, 27th FA, located at Wertheim, Germany, with the VII Corps was accomplished. This marked the first total package fielding in a pure MLRS battalion (three batteries, each with nine launchers) in Europe.
July 85 The Vice Chief of Staff of the Army (VCSA) directed that MANPRINT considerations be included as a separate major area in the Source Selection Evaluation Process because of his concern that industry was not responding to the Army's MANPRINT priority.
July 85 Olin Chemical Corporation delivered a large volume of Huntsville Remedial Action Plan documentation to MICOM. The company also applied for federal permits and construction easements for its plan to isolate and bury DDT residue in Huntsville Spring Branch along the southern edge of Redstone Arsenal. Olin's DDT clean-up plan had to be revised after the discovery of a significant archaeological site in the area where a drainage ditch would have been cut. Archaeologists dated the site from the Early Archaic period (c. 9500 years ago) and considered it eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
11 July 85 The U.S. Army's first System Operational Readiness Review (SORR) was presented on the MLRS at the U.S. Army Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to the school's commandant and the MICOM Commanding General. This pilot review was the foundation for the formulation of a joint AMC/TRADOC SORR regulation.
11 July 85 The Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, Force Development, DA, signed the required operational capabilities document for the Advanced Antitank Weapon System-Medium (AAWS-M).
25 July 85 The Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Army and Air Force issued an authoritative system description of the JTACMS to be developed, renamed the Army system Army TACMS, and clarified the relationship of the program.
31 July 85 The Office of the Special Assistant for JATM and Space was established provisionally to provide a focal point for integrating and coordinating the total command JATM program and all MICOM space related activities.
1 August 85 The Redstone Arsenal base support contractor, Holmes and Narver Services, Inc./ Morrison-Knudsen, began phasing in on this date and was in full operation by 1 October 85. The decision to contract out base support operations on the arsenal to an outside firm caused a major reorganization and reduction-in-force in RASA.
1 August 85 By order of the Secretary of the Army, the Missile Intelligence Agency was redesignated the U.S. Army Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC) effective this date.
2 August 85 MG Peter G. Burbules, formerly head of the U.S. Army Armament, Munitions, and Chemical Command (AMCCOM), became the tenth MICOM Commander. He succeeded MG Jerry Max Bunyard, who was reassigned to the Pentagon as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development, and Acquisition (RDA).
13 August 85 The Smart Munitions Center was established in the RD&E Center to serve as the MICOM focal point for all smart munitions efforts within AMC.
16 August 85 A tornado touched down on the west side of Redstone Arsenal, damaging Building 6100 and overturning a truck trailer containing valuable electronic equipment. Vans and automobiles suffered broken windows, dents, and scratches; power lines were knocked down; and trees were uprooted. The swath of destruction extended for about 1 mile south from the Advanced Sensor Directorates' radar test site, which was located about one-half mile west of the Redstone Army Airfield.
26 August 85 The Tactical Airborne Remotely Piloted Vehicle/Drone Systems Project Office, commonly known as RPV, was reassigned from AVSCOM to MICOM.
3 September 85 The Under Secretary of the Army and the VCSA signed the AAWS-M Decision Review Memorandum, approving the AAWS-M and AAWS-Heavy (AAWS-H) programs for entry into a demonstration and validation phase.
6 September 85 The readiness of the HAWK system was impacted when unknown terrorists placed satchel charges on four major items at a HAWK battery site in Germany occupied by the D Battery, 3d Battalion, 59th ADA. Destroyed by the ensuing explosions, these major items were dropped from the Army's inventory and the residual material was reclaimed for field service stock repair parts.
9 September 85 To comply with basic AMC guidance on the formation of RD&E Centers, the Battlefield Automation Management Directorate and the System Engineering Production Directorate were transferred intact as sub-elements of the MICOM RD&E Center. Neither directorate experienced any changes in mission, organizational structure, personnel authorizations, or job assignments.
13 September 85 The VCSA approved the AT-4 and AT-4 trainer as type classified standard.
27 September 85 Fielding of the TOW weapon system to Round-Out/Round-Up National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve units concurrently with TOW 2 deployments to the active Army units to which the National Guard/Reserve units were aligned was completed ahead of schedule.
October 85 Road machines excavating I-565 along Redstone Arsenal's northern boundary unearthed several old mortar rounds and a rocket warhead. Fortunately, all of the disinterred items proved to be inert practice rounds. Nothing was left to chance, however, because arsenal records indicated the highway was passing through an old munitions test range.
10 October 85 Soldiers of the 9th Infantry Division successfully fired a STINGER missile from the SETTER at Yakima Firing Center, Washington. At the time of the firing, the SETTER was moving about 25 miles per hour down a gravel road. The firing resulted in a direct hit on a Ballistic Aerial Target System (BATS) which was more than 1 mile away and traveling at 400 miles per hour. The test demonstrated that the launch turret was fully stabilized, the weapon could acquire and lock onto a target, and the weapon could shoot while moving.
1 November 85 The Secretary of Defense approved Canada's purchase of TOW 2 missiles directly from Hughes Aircraft Company. This was the first time that the U.S. government allowed any other country to buy TOW missiles directly from the contractor.
5 November 85 The first U.S. Army light division-the 4th Battalion/17th Infantry of the 7th ID (Light)-underwent TOW 2 modification.
8 November 85 MICOM modified the FY 85 STINGER-POST production contract, originally awarded to General Dynamics in August 85, to require delivery of STINGER-RMP configured hardware instead of STINGER-POST.
December 85 A SHILLELAGH missile system phasedown plan was published and distributed during this month.
December 85 MICOM proposed that the AT-4 be transitioned to AMCCOM because it was a conventional ammunition item. MICOM suggested an FY 86 transition date, but AMCCOM delayed acceptance of program responsibility until IOC was achieved.
December 85 The first European PATRIOT battalion passed NATO Tactical Evaluation and became fully operational.
December 85 DA approved the redesignation of the TOW Lethality Improvement Program as TOW 2B, which was to be accomplished as PIP.
31 December 85 U.S. support for the NIKE HERCULES was scheduled to end on this date, with all FMS users given an opportunity to requisition those components needed to maintain their system for whatever length of time they desired.
Redstone Arsenal Era:
Intro,
1980,
1981,
1982,
1983,
1984,
1985,
1986,
1987,
1988,
1989
