United States Army Communications-Electronics Command

United States Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM)
United States Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM)
Active	1981 – present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Type	Life Cycle Management Command
Size	13,000
Part of	United States Army Materiel Command
Garrison/HQ	Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
Nickname(s)	CECOM
Website	https://www.army.mil/cecom
Commanders
Current commander	Major General Randy S. Taylor
Notable commanders	Major General Robert L. Nabors Sept 1998 – July 2001

The Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) is a Life Cycle Management Command of the United States Army based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, United States. It is one of four such commands under the Army Materiel Command (AMC), and is the Army's provider and maintainer of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities.

The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision relocated CECOM to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland as part of implementing the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure law. Its former home, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey has been closed since 15 September 2011. CECOM has approximately 13,000 military, civilian and contract personnel across five CECOM organizations.

CECOM specializes in communications-electronics systems and equipment, to include setting up headquarters and command and tactical operations centers in remote areas to installing and maintaining communications systems in vehicles and aircraft. CECOM also provides training activities, field support for modifications and upgrades, and logistical expertise. The C4ISR Materiel Enterprise is a subset of the Army's Materiel Enterprise; one of four Army Enterprises, which also include: Human Capital, Readiness, and Services and Infrastructure.

The history of the Communications-Electronics Command began with the establishment of a Signal Corps training facility and radio research and development laboratory at Fort Monmouth, NJ in 1917. In 1929, the Signal Corps' Electrical Laboratory of Washington and the Signal Corps Research Laboratory of New York merged with the Radio Laboratories at Fort Monmouth to form the consolidated "Signal Corps Laboratories."

In 1949, the Signal Corps Center was established and consolidated many existing Signal functions to include: the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories, the Signal Corps Board, Signal School, Signal Corps Publications Agency, Signal Corps Intelligence Unit, Pigeon Breeding and Training Center, the Army portion of the Electro Standards Agency, and the Signal Corps troop units.

The forerunner of the Army Air Corps and the U.S. Air Force had its roots at Fort Monmouth. In 1928, the first radio-equipped meteorological balloon soared into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, a forerunner of a weather sounding technique universally used today. In 1938, the first U.S. aircraft detection radar was developed at the Signal Corps Center. In 1946, space communications was proved feasible when the Diana Radar was used to bounce electronic signals off the moon.