# United States Army Materiel Command

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.
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

AMC was established on 8 May 1962 and was activated on 1 August of that year as a major field command of the U.S. Army. Lieutenant General Frank S. Besson, Jr., who directed the implementation of the Department of Army study that recommended creation of a "materiel development and logistics command", served as its first commander.
On Aug. 1, 1962, the various field activities and installations were transferred to AMC and the command became fully operational.
They 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. The seventh Technical Service, The Surgeon General, provided one medical depot, and 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.
Between January 1976 and August 1984, AMC was officially designated the United States Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (commonly referred to as DARCOM).
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 favoured.

## Locations

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. AMC was located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia between 2003 and 2005 before being relocated to Alabama by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. 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.

## Commanders

| No. | Commander | Commander | Term | Term | Term |
| No. | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Term length |
| 1 | | General Frank S. Besson Jr. | 2 April 1962 | 10 March 1969 | 6 years, 342 days |
| 2 | | General Ferdinand J. Chesarek | 10 March 1969 | 1 November 1970 | 1 year, 236 days |
| 3 | | General Henry A. Miley Jr. | 1 November 1970 | 12 February 1975 | 4 years, 103 days |
| 4 | | General John R. Deane Jr. | 12 February 1975 | 1 February 1977 | 1 year, 355 days |
| 5 | | Lieutenant General George Sammet Jr. | 1 February 1977 | 1 May 1977 | 89 days |
| 6 | | General John R. Guthrie | 1 May 1977 | 1 August 1981 | 4 years, 92 days |
| 7 | | General Donald R. Keith | 1 August 1981 | 29 June 1984 | 2 years, 333 days |
| 8 | | General Richard H. Thompson | 29 June 1984 | 13 April 1987 | 2 years, 288 days |
| 9 | | 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 | 362 days |

## Major subordinate commands

* United States Army Contracting Command
* United States Army Sustainment Command
* United States Army Aviation and Missile Command
* United States Army Communications-Electronics Command,
* United States Army Chemical Materials Activity
* Joint Munitions Command
* United States Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command
* 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
* United States Army Installation Management Command, formerly a direct reporting unit of the Department of the Army, will now be part of AMC
* Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command
* See also: United States Army Medical Materiel Agency (a Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC))

## Formerly subordinate commands

* 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

## Other commands

* Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives