AUSTIN, Texas — In a new, multi-million dollar partnership with Army Futures Command, Texas A&M University will soon break ground on a facility where technology will be created to "solve real problems for real soldiers."
The partnership was announced Oct. 2 at the Army Futures Command Applications Lab in Austin, where Commander John Murray, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp spoke.
"We really missed the generation of modernization, and so the Army must modernize to maintain relevance into the future," Gen. Murray said.
Sen. Cornyn said the new partnership will benefit the country and especially those who serve.
"We want to make sure that our men and women in uniform have everything they need – that's my commitment as a member of Congress representing the state of Texas," Sen. Cornyn said.
On Oct. 12, crews will break ground on the RELLIS campus about seven miles from Texas A&M University in Bryan, Texas. The combat development center will cost $130 million, $80 million of which will come from the Texas A&M System Board of Regents. The other $50 million is being funded by the Texas legislature.
The Army Research Lab is giving Texas A&M University $65 million to do research at the new facility.
"It's really a couple capabilities – combat development center where I think the most incredible thing is to almost follow a lean startup model and get soldiers involved in the development of material at the very beginning and keep them involved in the material and solving real problems for real soldiers," Gen. Murray said. "A lot of the capability we're going to develop down at Texas A&M on the RELLIS campus will be directly related to what the national defense strategy and what the military at large – all four services – have been directed to do."
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At RELLIS, construction will begin on the nation's largest hypersonic tunnel.
The tunnel, described by Chancellor Sharp as "one of a kind," will allow military contractors to test and develop material and hypersonic weaponry. They will also develop laser technology, Sharp said.
Although the school was already working with hypersonics and lasers, Katherine Banks, the dean of the College of Engineering, said the larger tunnel will bring new benefits.
"It will allow us to not only look at hypersonic conditions but also directed energy [lasers] under certain environmental conditions," Banks said. "You can’t do that in the smaller tunnels."
Banks said they will focus on next-generation vehicles. She said funding from the legislature will be used to instrument a 2,000-acre site with specialty tracks to "evaluate networks between ground vehicles and drones."
Commander Murray said the technology developed at the new campus will "solve real problems for real soldiers."
Murray said this is a part of the Army Futures Command goal to modernize and maintain relevance in the future. He said the goal would be that no one will ever have to use the technology created at A&M.
"But if we ever have to, [we want] our children and grandchildren to have the tools they need to fight and win on a future battlefield and come home safely," Murray said.
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