Mr. Di Ricco, who went to work following his graduation as a mechanical engineer, B.S.M.E., from Newark College of Engineering (now NJIT) in 1965, was employed by the Dept. of the Army at Picatinny Arsenal, now called ARDEC - Army Research, Development, and Engineering Center - until his initial retirement in 2003. Upon that retirement he started his own Consulting and Expert Witness business, applying his acquired skills and knowledge as an ammunition expert , and a malfunction investigation expert, to the military, civilian, and legal community, where he has compiled an impressive list of successful cases. In 2008, Mr. Di Ricco was recruited by the Dept. of the Army Project Manager's Office to serve as Senior Technical Expert for the Maneuver Ammunition Systems of the Program Executive Office, which covers all Small Caliber, Medium Caliber (40MM), and Large Caliber (Tank ammunition) items. This task was completed in 2014, and Mr. Di Ricco now concentrates on his Consulting and Expert Witness business.


As an engineer at Picatinny Arsenal, he stayed with one highly specialized Organization his entire career, starting as a journeyman and culminating in a high level Project/Team Leader position, leading and overseeing a team of engineers working on an array of ammunition items and projects. His 38 years of unique experience and leadership in his field has resulted in Mr. Di Ricco not only being a versatile  Ammunition Expert, but being one of only a few certifiable experts at investigating ammunition and weapons malfunctions and incidents, having personally conducted or led more than several hundred investigations. This has resulted in the saving of countless lives on the battlefield and in training, as well as resolving design, manufacturing, quality assurance, training, storage, use and misuse issues to enable a safer and more reliable ammunition product.

 

An example of his experience and extremely thorough understanding both of the techniques of investigation and the ammunition involved can be demonstrated by a particularly severe problem encountered with M67 Fragmentation Hand Grenades during the Viet Nam war in South East Asia.


A significant number of those grenades thrown by our troops were detonating near instantaneously, causing the death or severe injury to our own troops. Mr. Di Ricco, prime engineer and investigator for hand grenades, conducted a high priority program that not only identified the cause of the problem,  which occurred  at the manufacturer's plant, but developed a field inspection involving x-ray of ALL hand grenades for defective fuzes. Since the hand grenades were located in the war theatre and were required for combat, he travelled overseas (Okinawa) and oversaw the implementation of the x-ray inspection and the training of local personnel to conduct the corrective inspection. In the first six weeks alone, under the guidance of Mr. Di Ricco, more than 50 grenades were identified with the defect that would have caused death or injury to the user. He followed up the SEA effort with setting up the inspection and training of local personnel in Germany, Europe as well. His inspection process was incorporated into the Technical Data Package for hand grenades, and is still in use today.

 

Beyond Fragmentation Hand Grenades, Mr. Di Ricco is experienced in a variety of other ammunition items, with personal investigative involvement and technical expertise, including Flash Bang, Concussion, and Diversionary Hand Grenades,  Small Caliber ammunition for both Hand Gun and Automatic Weapons (such as M16 Rifle and .50 Caliber Machine Gun), Medium Caliber 40MM ammo, shoulder-fired Anti-Tank Rocket  M72, aircraft-fired anti-personnel rockets (2.75 Inch Hydra 70), Artillery and Mortar ammunition, Signals and Flares, Simulators, and more, as well as Non-Lethal items, from rubber bullets, to shotgun fired pellet and bean-bag items, to thrown non-lethal grenades.

 

Mr. Di Ricco's extensive knowledge and unique job experience and skills in almost 45 years of service to the U.S. Government,  Dept. of the Army, make him not only an Ammunition Expert in a broad range of ammunition, but highly qualified as an Expert Witness for the legal community.

 

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