Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., announced a major expansion with contract award to build a $41 million state-of-the-art Munitions Disassembly Complex, Hopatconglakeregionalnews.com reported Monday.
Lawmakers Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Foreign Relations Committee ranking member, and House Armed Services Committee Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) joined leaders from Picatinny Arsenal, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Picatinny Enhancement Coalition (PEC) to announce the contract, the report said.
The project modernizes Picatinny’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology (EODT) Directorate, which is responsible for developing, validating and verifying munitions disassembly for all U.S. conventional munitions and first-seen foreign munitions. It is the only Army organization authorized to perform the complex function, according to the report.
The facility will accelerate development of concepts involving Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) robots, armed robots and robot-based munitions delivery systems, and develop new tools and applications to advance the role of robots in EOD missions, the report said.
“Picatinny is the DOD’s Joint Center of Excellence for Guns and Ammunition and specializes in delivering lethality to the force, but it also has another very important mission, and that is Explosives Ordnance Disposal,” PEC President Bill Morelli said.  “This new facility will help grow Picatinny’s expertise and capability in EOD and improve the safety and security of our men and women in uniform as they go about their mission of protecting this great nation.”
The project serves as recognition of Picatinny Arsenal’s armaments and ammunition mission, which for nearly 20 years has played the lead role as lifecycle manager of all armed forces conventional munitions, according to the report.