FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Huntsville, AL. – March 11, 2026 – The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center is now the only facility in the U.S. Army that has the capability of conducting Air and Ground Interoperability Certification (A-AIC) across multiple platforms.
The U.S. Army has decisively shifted from a thorough but slow "holistic" interoperability certification, which was limited to just two major and minor opportunities per year lasting eight-plus weeks, to a nimble, aviation-focused model. This new agile process, led by the Capability Program Executive for Aviation, streamlines testing to concentrate on aviation systems, enabling more frequent and efficient certification cycles.
“In January 2026, a landmark Army Aviation Interoperability Certification test was successfully executed over a two-week period, marking the first time an event of this scale has been conducted,” said Dan Doran, A-AIC test director. “The comprehensive test evaluated the interoperability between two Apache variants, a Black Hawk variant, the Unmanned Aircraft System Ground Control Station-Version 3 (UASGCS-V3), and a Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft variant. The event concluded with the generation of two Technical Incident Reports (TIRs) one minor and one major, now pending review and severity-level assignment by the Technical Adjudication Board (TAB).”
This certification model empowers DEVCOM AvMC as CPE Aviation’s test agent to codify and streamline troubleshooting, risk reduction and mitigation across the Army's most critical aviation platforms by creating a sustainable, rigorous and repeatable interoperability test and certification standard for key systems.
“This testing effort represents a critical milestone in advancing operational capabilities and ensuring seamless integration across key aviation and unmanned platforms,” Doran said.
About DEVCOM AvMC: DEVCOM AvMC is the nexus of Army aviation and missile modernization, where the operational requirements of Transformation and Training Command are fused with the acquisition strategies of the Portfolio Acquisition Executives. As the Army’s primary source of deep technical expertise, the Center provides the innovative science and responsive life-cycle engineering that allows the PAEs to execute programs at speed, delivering the asymmetric capabilities required to ensure our Soldiers dominate future conflicts.
Media Contact:
Katie Davis Skelley
Chief, Command Information
katherine.d.skelley.civ@army.mil
256-690-8588
https://www.avmc.army.mil/
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