Ingenuity on display as students engineer high-flying pumpkin launchers at Armaments Center

PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. – It was pumpkin seeds aplenty as the annual Pumpkin Sling returned to the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DE… PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. – It was pumpkin seeds aplenty as the annual Pumpkin Sling returned to the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center on Friday, Oct. 30. Held for the first time at the Armaments Center in 2016, the sling has been a consistent part of Picatinny activities since, though it was modified into a spring cantaloupe fling for 2025 due to the government shutdown. Five teams took part this year, Sussex County Technical School, West Orange High School, New Providence High School, Morris Catholic High School and Livingston High School.

The teams overcame a variety of malfunctions, false starts and backfires in sending four pumpkins each into Lake Picatinny. West Orange took home top honors for the first time with their opening launch traveling 198 meters, followed by Livingston in second with 151, New Providence in third with 37, Morris Catholic in fourth with 35 and Sussex Tech in fifth with 20. Sussex Tech has been involved since the first edition at Picatinny and was the defending winner, and this year the team did something different by attaching a modified bicycle to a specially built flywheel to power its launches. Instead of