United States Army Materiel Command

U.S. Army's primary provider of materiel

U.S. Army Materiel Command

AMC Shoulder Sleeve Insignia

Active| 1962–present
Country|  United States
Branch|  United States Army
Type| Army Command
Role| Develops, maintains, and supports materiel capabilities for the Army[1]
Size| more than 60,000 military and civilians
Garrison/HQ| Redstone Arsenal
Motto(s)| If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, communicates with it, or eats it – AMC provides it.
March| Arsenal for the Brave[2]
Website| AMC — The Army's Materiel Integrator www.army.mil/info/organization/unitsandcommands/commandstructure/amc/
Commanders
Current
commander| LTG Christopher Mohan (acting)[3]
Command Sergeant Major| CSM Jimmy J. Sellers
Notable
commanders| Frank S. Besson, Jr.
Ferdinand J. Chesarek
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia|

Military unit

The U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) is the primary provider of materiel to the United States Army. The command's mission includes the management of installations, as well as maintenance and parts distribution.

AMC operates depots; arsenals; ammunition plants; and other facilities, and maintains the Army's prepositioned stocks, both on land and afloat.[4]

The command is also the Department of Defense Executive Agent for the chemical weapons stockpile and for conventional ammunition.

AMC is responsible for the business of selling United States Army equipment and services to allies of the United States and negotiates and implements agreements for co-production of U.S. weapons systems by other states.

## History

[edit]

AMC was established on 8 May 1962, and later was activated on 1 August of that year as a major field command of the U.S. Army. Prior to its creation, Lt. Gen. Frank S. Besson, Jr. directed a Department of the Army study to be conducted, of which recommended the creation of a "materiel development and logistics command". He would serve as the AMC's first commander.

As part of the formation of AMC, various field activities and installations were transferred into it. Those field activities and installations came primarily from six of the technical services: Chief Chemical Officer, Chief of Engineers, Chief of Ordnance (the largest single source of AMC installations), the Quartermaster General, Chief Signal Officer, and the Chief of Transportation.[5] The seventh technical service, the Surgeon General, provided one medical depot. Several other installations and activities came from Headquarters, Department of the Army (DA) Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, the Continental Army Command, and the Chief of Research and Development.

Since its creation in 1962, the Army Materiel Command (AMC) underwent constant reorganizations and realignments in its headquarters and numerous field commands. These conditions reflected a more fundamental problem, chronic dissatisfaction with the Army’s entire system for developing and fielding new weapons and equipment. A special Army Materiel Acquisition Review Committee on 1 April 1974 recommended sweeping organizational and management reforms.[6]

On 23 January 1976, AMC was redesignated the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM). DARCOM commander Gen. John R. Deane Jr. best summed up the renaming's purpose, which was "to emphasize that readiness is a part of our business."[7][8]

Materiel development and materiel readiness newly became the two major organizational elements within the command. The former, materiel development, is responsible for research and development, producer tests and evaluation, and initial procurement of weapons and supporting equipment. The latter, materiel readiness, is responsible for buying, fielding, and maintaining these systems.[6]

As part of this reorganization, the commands formerly managed by AMC were broken into separate commands for research and development, and readiness.[7][8] Accordingly, during fiscal year 1976 the Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) became the Tank-Automotive Research and Development Command and the Tank-Automotive Materiel Readiness Command. The Missile and the Armaments Commands were similarly divided.[6]

On 1 August 1984, DARCOM was redesignated as AMC. The reason for the change was to "remove a perceived boundary between development and logistics support implied in the DARCOM name". Additionally, it was said that the conciseness and clarity of the name AMC "[would] be better understood by allies and the general public."[8]

In December 2024, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, "in a dramatic and rare move," dismissed General Charles R. Hamilton, the AMC commanding general, following an Army investigation that concluded he had improperly intervened to arrange a battalion command position for a female lieutenant colonel he favored.[9]

## Locations

[edit]

AMC is currently headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and has operations in approximately 149 locations worldwide including more than 49 American states and 50 countries. AMC employs upwards of 70,000 military and civilian employees. From 1973 to 2003, AMC was headquartered in a building at 5001 Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia, and prior to 1973, it was headquartered at what is now Reagan National Airport.[10] AMC was located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia between 2003 and 2005 before being relocated to Alabama by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

## Commanders

[edit]

General Charles R. Hamilton assumes command of AMC from General Edward M. Daly on 16 March 2023. No. | Commander[11] | Term

|
|

Portrait  | Name  | Took office  | Left office  | Term length
As U.S. Army Materiel Command

| General
Frank S. Besson Jr.| 2 April 1962| 10 March 1969| 6 years, 342 days

| General
Ferdinand J. Chesarek| 10 March 1969| 1 November 1970| 1 year, 236 days

| General
Henry A. Miley Jr.| 1 November 1970| 12 February 1975| 4 years, 103 days
As U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command

| General
John R. Deane Jr.| 12 February 1975| 1 February 1977| 1 year, 355 days

| Lieutenant General
George Sammet Jr.[12]| 1 February 1977| 1 May 1977| 89 days

| General
John R. Guthrie| 1 May 1977| 1 August 1981| 4 years, 92 days

| General
Donald R. Keith| 1 August 1981| 29 June 1984| 2 years, 333 days
As U.S. Army Materiel Command

| General
Richard H. Thompson| 29 June 1984| 13 April 1987| 2 years, 288 days

| General
Louis C. Wagner Jr.| 13 April 1987| 27 September 1989| 2 years, 167 days
10|

| General
William G.T. Tuttle Jr.| 27 September 1989| 31 January 1992| 2 years, 126 days
11|

| General
Jimmy D. Ross| 31 January 1992| 11 February 1994| 2 years, 11 days
12|

| General
Leon E. Salomon| 11 February 1994| 27 March 1996| 2 years, 45 days
13|

| General
Johnnie E. Wilson| 27 March 1996| 14 May 1999| 3 years, 48 days
14|

| General
John G. Coburn| 14 May 1999| 30 October 2001| 2 years, 169 days
15|

| General
Paul J. Kern| 30 October 2001| 5 November 2004| 3 years, 6 days
16|

| General
Benjamin S. Griffin| 5 November 2004| 14 November 2008| 4 years, 9 days
17|

| General
Ann E. Dunwoody| 14 November 2008| 28 June 2012| 3 years, 227 days
18|

| General
Dennis L. Via| 28 June 2012| 30 September 2016| 4 years, 94 days
19|

| General
Gustave F. Perna| 30 September 2016| 2 July 2020| 3 years, 276 days
20|

| General
Edward M. Daly| 2 July 2020| 16 March 2023| 2 years, 257 days
21|

| General
Charles R. Hamilton| 16 March 2023| 22 March 2024| 1 year, 6 days

| Lieutenant General
Christopher Mohan
Acting| 22 March 2024| Incumbent| 1 year, 143 days

## Major subordinate commands

[edit]

* United States Army Contracting Command
* United States Army Sustainment Command
* United States Army Aviation and Missile Command
* United States Army Communications-Electronics Command,[13]
* United States Army Chemical Materials Activity
* Joint Munitions Command[14][15]
* United States Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command[16]
* United States Army Security Assistance Command
* United States Army Medical Logistics Command
* United States Army Financial Management Command, formerly a direct reporting unit of the Department of the Army, is now subordinate to AMC, effective 1 Oct. 2019[17]
* United States Army Installation Management Command[18][19]
* Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command
* See also: United States Army Medical Materiel Agency (a Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC))

## Formerly subordinate commands

[edit]

* Combat Capabilities Development Command or CCDC (formerly United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command) completed its transfer to United States Army Futures Command on 3 February 2019, which operates research and development engineering centers; Army Research Laboratories supports the centers' activities.
* U.S. Army Industrial Operations Command, included Anniston Munitions Center[20]

## Other commands

[edit]

* Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives

## See also

[edit]

Comparable organizations U.S. Armed Forces systems commands

* Marine Corps Systems Command
* United States Navy systems commands
* Naval Sea Systems Command
* Naval Air Systems Command
* Naval Information Warfare Systems Command
* Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command
* Naval Supply Systems Command
* Air Force Materiel Command
* Space Systems Command

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "U.S. Army Materiel Command". Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
2. ^ "U.S. Army Materiel Command Band". U.S. Army Materiel Command. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
3. ^ Severi, Misty (23 March 2024). "Four-star Army general suspended after pressuring panel over unfit officer - Washington Examiner". Retrieved 24 March 2024.
4. ^ Cotton 2019.
5. ^ "History 1962-1975". www.amc.army.mil. Archived from the original on 4 March 2025. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
6. ^ a b c Cocke, Karl E.; Bell, William G.; Corr, John B.; Danysh, Romana M.; Hermes, Walter G.; et al. (1977). "FY 76 - Dept. of the Army Historical Summary (DAHSUM)". history.army.mil. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Department of the Army. pp. 71–73\. Archived from the original on 21 May 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2025. "Since its creation in 1962 the Army Materiel Command (AMC) underwent constant reorganizations and realignments in its headquarters and numerous field commands. These conditions reflected a more fundamental problem, chronic dissatisfaction with the Army's entire system for developing and fielding new weapons and equipment. A special Army Materiel Acquisition Review Committee on 1 April 1974 recommended sweeping organizational and management reforms. The Army staff has been monitoring these problem areas ever since. Transferring responsibility for procurement and production from the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics to a new Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development, and Acquisition was a helpful step. Another was a parallel reorganization of AMC field commands and AMC headquarters, which on 1 January 1976 became the Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM). Materiel development and materiel readiness are now the two major organizational elements within the command. The former is responsible for research and development, producer tests and evaluation, and initial procurement of weapons and supporting equipment. The latter is responsible for buying, fielding, and maintaining these systems. (___enter___); Nearly every proposed reorganization of the Army since World War II has stressed the necessity of decentralizing and shifting operations to the field, a proposal that headquarters staffs have generally resisted. The DARCOM reorganization is one more attempt to decentralize operations, partly by reducing the headquarters staff. As noted earlier, the command will also split the commodity commands into separate research and development and materiel readiness commands. The reorganization will involve the transfer of some functions among various installations. (___enter___); Accordingly, during fiscal year 1976 the Tank-Automotive Command became the Tank-Automotive Research and Development Command and the Tank-Automotive Materiel Readiness Command. The Missile and the Armaments Commands were similarly divided. Realignment of the Electronics, Aviation, and Troop Transport Commands may also take place. (___enter___); One of the Army Materiel Command's major subcommands since its creation was the Test and Evaluation Command. Assigned to it were development test facilities of the former technical services and operational test boards of the combat arms. Placing the latter under a predominantly development command created controversy within the Army. The Materiel Acquisition Review Committee's testing team recommended transferring these operational test boards from the Materiel Command to the Training and Doctrine Command. The Department of the Army approved the recommendation on 1 July 1975 and directed the transfer of five operational test boards: the Air Defense Board at Fort Bliss, Texas; the Airborne, Communications, and Electronics Board at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; the Armor and Engineer Board at Fort Knox, Kentucky; the Field Artillery Board at Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and the Infantry Board at Fort Benning, Georgia. Later the Aviation Board at Fort Rucker, Alabama, was transferred to the Training and Doctrine Command. At the same installation the Materiel Development and Readiness Command created an Aviation Development Test Activity. (___enter___); Since the Materiel Development and Readiness Command is principally responsible for producing arms sold abroad, the creation of the Coordinator for Army Security Assistance led to changes in the command's organization. In November 1975 the International Logistics Center at New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, the field agency responsible for direction of these operations in the major commodity commands, was placed under an International Logistics Command. Brig. Gen. Tom H. Brain, the director of International Logistics, DARCOM headquarters, now wears a second hat and directs the activities of the International Logistics Center."
7. ^ a b "Records of the United States Army Materiel Command". archives.gov. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
8. ^ a b c "History Overview - A New Name, A New Era — 1976-1989". amc.army.mil. Army Materiel Command. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2025. "AMC was designated DARCOM on Jan. 23, 1976, to symbolize the change to a more corporate structure."; –– " The DARCOM Commander, Gen. John Deane best summed up this effort: "We wanted to change our philosophy of how we do business and also change the attitude of the people in the command. We wanted to emphasize that readiness is a part of our business." '; –– "As part of this reorganization, the commodity commands formerly managed by AMC were broken into separate commands for research and development and readiness."; ... –– "On Aug. 1, 1984, it was announced that DARCOM had shortened its name back to the Army Materiel Command or AMC to "remove a perceived boundary between development and logistics support implied in the DARCOM name" and because the brevity and clarity of the name AMC "will be better understood by allies and the general public." Interestingly, most of the commodity commands that had been broken apart when DARCOM was created had already been put back together."
9. ^ Beynon, Steve (17 December 2024). "Army Secretary Fires 4-Star General Who Meddled in Promotion of Unfit Subordinate". Military.com. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
10. ^ "AMC in the Seventies: a decade of celebration, change". army.mil. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
11. ^ Army.mil – AMC Former Commanders
12. ^ Note: Sammet was listed as commanding general of U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command despite his retirement 89 days later.
13. ^ Alexandria Soller, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) (February 26, 2019) Staying ahead of modernization requirements, ensuring readiness
14. ^ Tony Lopez (AMC) (September 21, 2018) JMC Commander promoted to Brigadier General
15. ^ Elizabeth Behring (AMC) (May 10, 2019) Ensuring Readiness for the Strategic Support Area: Munitions Readiness
16. ^ TACOM Public Affairs (May 31, 2019) Gen. Perna gets update on Soldier and ground systems readiness efforts
17. ^ Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner, U.S. Army Financial Management Command (Oct. 31, 2019) Bennett takes command of realigned USAFMCOM
* Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner, U.S. Army Financial Management Command (Oct. 23, 2019) Bennett to command USAFMCOM
18. ^ Army News Service (11 Feb 2019) Installation Management Command to realign under Army Materiel Command
19. ^ Wendy Brown, U.S. Army Garrison Japan Public Affairs (March 11, 2019) U.S. Army Garrison Japan Soldiers don Army Materiel Command patch
20. ^ "History" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2025.

* Cotton, Megan (6 June 2019). "Ensuring Readiness for Strategic Support: Strategic Power Projection". United States Army.

## References

[edit]

* This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army
* This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Media related to United States Army Materiel Command at Wikimedia Commons

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