# U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground Limited War Laboratory 78944

Made during the Vietnam War in 1965, this U.S. Army film shows how guerrilla warfare strategies were researched at the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground. On June 15, 1962 the Limited War Laboratory was established under the chief of research and development. Roughly 12 years later the laboratory was closed, in the wake of the failure of strategy in Vietnam. After the end of the Second World War, the United States military, the Army especially, saw its mission as one of countering potential Soviet aggression. If this were to come, the most likely battlefield would be in Northern Europe. With the Soviet Union’s acquisition of nuclear weapons the two world powers settled into the Cold War. Though a major land war between the two in Europe would have been catastrophic, other fronts presented more potential. By supporting insurgencies around the world the Soviet Union could needle the United States without risking nuclear war. It was in response to these threats that the U.S. Army created the Limited War Laboratory (USALWL or just LWL) in 1962 at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Other U.S. Army development activities were largely focused on the potential for open warfare with the Soviets. Insurgents on the other had presented an almost completely different adversary, against which the full conventional power of the U.S. military could not always be directed. The LWL was directed to develop and provide new and improved weapons and equipment to U.S. forces who might find…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: War, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/78944ResearchAndDevelopmentForTodaysCombat)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/78944ResearchAndDevelopmentForTodaysCombat?play=1)