Tardec Story: Sixty-Five Years of Innovation, 1946-2010

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) was formed in 1946 as an outgrowth of the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant built during World War II. During the early years, emphasis was placed on evolving new technologies to improve military ground vehicles, culminating in the development of the M1 Abrams tank. Since then, TARDEC has grown to be a key center for advanced technologies for military ground vehicles and equipment. Recent years have brought an explosion of technology development and integration, from hybrid engines to fuel cells, from analytical simulation to enormous physical simulators, and from small robots to entire unmanned vehicles.