WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. (8 June 2015) ― Just as solid as the steel the Arsenal uses to form cannons for U.S. tanks is its sense of purpose to help educate U.S. and allied troops. This was evident Thursday as more than 30 members of the Canadian Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, visited the Arsenal to learn about U.S. military weapons research, design, and manufacturing.
These majors, captains, warrant officers, and non-commissioned officers came to the Arsenal in their final month of a tough 11-month course to gain better knowledge of the science and technology that goes into large-caliber weapon development.
Canadian Army Col. Karl Michaud, the school's director of Applied Military Science, said that this was his second visit to Watervliet and he has been impressed both times with the great synergy that is achieved by having an Army research and design laboratory (Benét Laboratories) on the same installation and the manufacturing center (Watervliet Arsenal).
Michaud said that his officers will one day be the Canadian Army's program directors for the fielding and servicing of various soldier systems and that his NCO's will be the ones who will set up trials and testing of soldier systems.
"It was a fantastic experience for my students to get a sense of the degree of difficulty that is inherent in the manufacturing of a large caliber weapon system," Michaud said.
Through the day-long visit, the students were provided a series of briefings and demonstrations that discussed and showed firsthand not only the history of the Arsenal, but also its role in future and legacy weapon development.
During a quick command overview, Col. Lee H. Schiller Jr, the Arsenal commander, highlighted the Arsenal's 202-year-old history of supporting the Army and where it is today in regards to manufacturing tubes and subcomponents for mortar, howitzers, and for tanks.
David Smith, senior mechanical engineer at Benét, focused on the value being collocated with the Army's cannon and mortar manufacturer.
"Great processes and designs are born here (Benét Labs) and then are transferred across the street to the Watervliet Arsenal manufacturing center," Smith said. "What this unique synergy provides to the warfighter is overmatch capability that will ensure that they are victorious on the battlefield."
According to the military college's website, the aim of the land forces technical staff program that visited the Arsenal is to produce competent, technical staff officers with a broad based knowledge of science and technology and the ability to apply that knowledge to the needs of the Canadian land forces.
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Today's Arsenal is relied upon by U.S. and foreign militaries to produce the most advanced, high-tech, high-powered weaponry for cannon, howitzer, and mortar systems. This National Historic Registered Landmark has an annual economic benefit to the local community in excess of $90 million, and its 2014 revenue was about $117 million.
Related Links:
Watervliet Arsenal's May newsletter: The Salvo
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Watervliet Arsenal Slideshare Page
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