United States Army Acquisition Corps

The United States Army Acquisition Corps (AAC) is the officer / NCO corps of the United States Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW), a branch which includes civilians, officers, and NCOs. The Acquisition Corps is composed of army officers who serve in acquisition, a specialized form of product development, fielding, and support and Noncommissioned Officers who specialize in Contracting, Level I Program Management and Purchasing. These officers begin their careers in the other branches of the army for eight years, after which they may elect the Acquisition branch as their career as assistant program managers (APMs), program managers (PMs), and program executive officers (PEOs). (A PEO can be civilian.) The Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs) are reclassified in the Army Acquisition NCO Corps after serving 7–10 years in their respective enlisted career management fields, and serve primarily in the Army Acquisition Career Management Field - 51 and (MOS) 51C. 4% percentage of the Army Acquisition Officers serve among the 40,000 members of the army acquisition workforce, 6% in MOS 51C - Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Contracting Noncommissioned Officer (Active, Reserve and National Guards), and the remainder 90% percentage consist largely of Department of the Army civilians.

The director of the Army Acquisition Corps, currently a lieutenant general, also serves as principal military deputy (PMILDEP) to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology or ASA(ALT). The PMILDEP is also director of combat systems for Army Futures Command (AFC), by Army Directive 2018-15. The Office of ASA(ALT) has a direct reporting unit (DRU) which is denoted the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC). An office within USAASC, DACM ensures the professional development of the Acquisition Workforce as well as the Officers / NCOs corps itself, including the recruitment of suitable Captains, Majors, Staff Sergeants and Sergeant First Class into the pipeline of courses at the US Army Acquisition Corps School of Acquisition Excellence, Huntsville, AL and Defense Acquisition University (DAU). DAU certifies the 150,000-member Defense Acquisition Workforce, including the Army's Acquisition workforce of 40,000 civilians, officers, and NCOs (MOS 51C).