PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. — The commanding general of the Army Materiel Command, Army vice chief of staff and other senior Army science and technology leaders recognized two Picatinny development teams during the Army's "Top Ten Greatest Inventions of 2006" awards ceremony at the Hyatt Crystal City in Arlington, Va. June 12.

The Army-wide awards program recognizes the best technology solutions for Soldiers during a given year. Nominations for the award were submitted from across the Army laboratory community.

The Army -- from active-duty divisions to the Training and Doctrine Command to the Army's vice chief of staff -- chose the 10 winning programs based upon their impact on Army capabilities (breadth of use and magnitude of improvement over existing systems), inventiveness and potential benefit outside the Army.

Like previous years, there are no differentiating categories so that a variety of inventions could be recognized.

This year’s Army Greatest Invention list included the EM113A2 Rapid Entry Vehicle, used for crowd-control and rescue-squad insertion situations, and the Hand Packed Plastic Shaped Charge Assembly, used for remote destruction of buried improvised explosive devices. Both inventions were based here at Picatinny and are designed to keep Soldiers safer when dealing with potentially volatile situations.

Plastic Shaped Charge Assembly for Remote Destruction of Buried IEDs U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center

The Plastic Shaped Charge Assembly (PSCA) is a hand-packed shaped charge loaded by the user in the field. Remotely emplaced, the PSCA destroys known or suspected unexploded ordnance with much higher precision than similar devices currently in use for this purpose. Due to a low fragmentation plastic housing, there is virtually no collateral damage, making it ideally suited for use in urban terrain.

EM113A2 Rapid Entry Vehicle U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center

The EM113A2 Rapid Entry Vehicle (REV) is a modified Canadian M113A2 Bulldozer Armored Personnel Carrier that is lightly armored, full-tracked and air transportable. The REV provides rapid entry, non-lethal crowd control, and rescue squad insertion capabilities into the center of scenarios requiring non-lethal intervention. Use of the vehicle increases Soldier survivability through improved situational awareness and the ability to move and fire from within an armored vehicle.