The U.S. Army Research and Development Center has been named the lead organization for a key supercomputer program in the Department of Defense.

ERDC will head up the department’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program, or HPCMP, following approval by Congress last December, the Corps said Wednesday. The action officially places the headquarters of the $280 million program in Vicksburg.

“Having this program located at ERDC exploits a natural synergy that will strengthen our ability to provide science, technology and engineering expertise to make the world safer and better,” said Jeffery P. Holland, ERDC’s director.

The HPCMP provides high-performance computing expertise, computing, storage and communications resources for the department’s science, engineering and test communities. It supports five supercomputer centers nationwide at Army, Navy and Air Force sites and also hosts software research and a national high-speed computer network.

Two HPCMP supercomputer centers are in Mississippi, at ERDC and at the Stennis Space Center on the Gulf Coast. Others are at bases in Ohio, Hawaii and Maryland.

A $105 million upgrade at the five centers is expected to wrap up by year’s end. At ERDC, memory in three high-performance Cray XE6 systems will be tripled and the processor count doubled.

Gov. Phil Bryant also lauded the establishment, saying, “Premier programs like this one in Vicksburg and the highly skilled professionals they bring with them are propelling Mississippi to a national technology leadership role.”

The director of the program will be John West.

The high-performance computing has a wide range of research capabilities, including the ability to simulate certain situations before physical testing, which can include materials, weapons and human interaction in the field.

The HPCMP will remain a multiservice activity of the department across military branches, the release said.