Situated at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, BRL served as a major Army center for research and development in technologies related to weapon phenomena, armor, accelerator physics, and high-speed computing.

During his tenure, Moulton revamped how the branch conducted its ballistics work and recruited a large number of highly educated scientists to expand the staff.

The following year, the Army Air Corps contributed funds to BRL for a new building to house additional laboratory facilities as a show of gratitude for the lab's work on bomb ballistics.

[5][9][10] The Ballistics Research Laboratory further expanded its capabilities and quickly rose to prominence during the timespan of World War II; in 1941 Simon replaced Zornig as director.

[11] Unlike civilian laboratories whose productions were inherently restricted by anticipations of market demand, BRL owed a significant portion of its success to how the development of their instruments and technologies reflected only what the Army needed.

However, the laboratory was also involved in significantly improving the quality control of stockpiled ammunition as well as training and deploying technical service teams to calibrate guns on the battlefield.

The recommendation to construct a wind tunnel at Aberdeen Proving Ground was made in 1940 by Theodore von Karman, a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee.

[5] During the interwar period between the First and Second World War, the need for a faster and more efficient method of constructing artillery firing tables prompted BRL to consider the potential applications of digital computation.

[5] In 1935, before the Research Division became BRL, the Technical Staff acquired a copy of the Bush differential analyzer, which could compute a 60-second trajectory in about 15 minutes compared to about 20 hours performed by a person with a desk calculator.

Gillon, who oversaw the ballistic computations needed for the firing and bombing tables, knew that an upgraded version of the Bush differential analyzer existed at the Moore School.

[18] On June 5, 1943, the Army Ordnance Corps and the University of Pennsylvania signed a six-month contract in the amount of $61,700 for the construction of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC.

[6] Known as “Project PX,” the secret construction of the pilot model took place at the Moore School with Eckert as chief engineer and Mauchly as principal consultant.

Impressed by this demonstration, BRL agreed to increase the number of accumulators in ENIAC from four to twenty, delaying its completion even further but obtaining a much more powerful machine in exchange.

[21] It took scientists a month to complete the calculation due to the thousands of steps involved as well as ENIAC's inability to store programs or remember more than twenty 10-digit numbers.

[20] The formal dedication of ENIAC took place on February 15, 1946, at the Moore School, and the machine was moved to its permanent home at Aberdeen Proving Ground in January 1947.

[6] In 1948, BRL converted ENIAC into an internally stored-fixed program computer and used it to perform calculations for not just ballistics but also weather prediction, cosmic ray studies, thermal ignition, and other scientific tasks.

[25] Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, BRL increased its focus on target acquisition, guidance, and control technology and expanded its research to include more sophisticated weapon systems.

Composed of highly acclaimed scientists and engineers, the committee influenced many of BRL's decisions regarding new facilities, kept the lab informed about the latest advancements in various scientific fields, and provided insight into the causes of common problems.

Despite this, BRL continued to conduct research on high-speed computing and was involved in the development of new hardware and software such as the Heterogeneous Element Processor and ping.

[5] As artillery technology became more sophisticated, BRL used its electronic computers to develop digital programs that simulated the interior ballistic performance of its weapon systems.

Interior ballistic data from gun firings also helped BRL researchers create models to guide the design of future munitions.

Other areas of research included analysis on boundary layers, heating rates, and the chemical interactions between the travelling projectile and the surrounding air and electric fields.

During World War II, weapon accuracy became a critical focal point for BRL researchers, who directed much of their wartime effort to refining the ballistic performance of the projectiles.

In order to test the performance of different projectiles under various conditions, the lab relied heavily on the supersonic wind tunnels and aerodynamic ranges installed at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

BRL researchers in this field conducted experimental and theoretical work on the impact behavior of projectiles and investigated topics such as the mechanisms of penetration, fragmentation, wound ballistics, detonation, shockwave propagation, and combustion.

[30] During the post-World War II era in particular, BRL intensified its terminal ballistics research in response to the Army's need for more destructive weapon systems with greater firepower.

While terminal ballistics played a large role in weapon design and evaluation, BRL used the experimental data to develop protective technologies as well, including various kinds of tank armor.

While this was a relatively small duty compared to some of its other functions, vulnerability analysis and reduction nevertheless became the central focus for an entire division within BRL as researchers conducted studies concerning methods to increase the effectiveness of Army technology.

The lab also incorporated concepts from game theory to develop programs that simulated battles that allowed them to analyze different tactics and the use of particular weapons in certain situations.

BRL researchers also planned for the possibility of total nuclear war and thus focused heavily on evaluating intercontinental ballistic missiles, air defense platforms, and advanced submarine systems.