Western Range

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The Western Range (WR)[1] is the space launch range that supports the major launch head at Vandenberg Air Force Base.[2]:pg 15 Managed by the 30th Space Wing,[3]:pg 25 the WR extends from the West Coast of the United States to 90 degrees East longitude in the Indian Ocean[3]:pg 27 where it meets the Eastern Range[4]:pg 10 Operations involve military, government, and commercial interests. The WR is operated under by a civilian contractor since its establishment, following the precedent of the Eastern Range. On 2003-10-01, InDyne Inc. took over the range contract from ITT Industries which had operated the range for the previous 44 years.[5]

History

Navy's Pacific Missile Range (PMR)

The Navy established the Naval Missile Facility at Point Arguello (NMFPA) after transfer from Army of 19,800 acres from the southern portion of Camp Cooke, a World War II training and POW facility then a maximum security Disciplinary Barracks site, in May 1958.[6] Cooke Air Force Base, later Vandenberg Air Force Base, was established on 64,000 acres of the northern portion.[6] The Secretary of Defense directed the of the Navy to establish the Pacific Missile Range (PMR) with headquarters at Point Mugu and instrumentation sites along the California coast and downrange in the Pacific Ocean.[6] By agreements between the Navy and the Air Force nearly all launches from Vandenberg came under the command and control of Navy and the PMR.[6]

Air Force—Western Test Range

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara directed restructure of the missile ranges on 16 November 1963 with the effective date of 1 July 1964 on which major sections of the Navy's Pacific Missile Range were transferred to the United States Air Force.[6] In a final transfer on 1 February 1965 the Air Force, with headquarters at Vandenberg Air Force Base, took control of Pillar Point, California, two sites in Hawaii, Canton Island, Midway Island, and Wake Island in the mid-Pacific as well as Eniwetok and Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.[6] Air Force also took control of the six range instrumented ships Huntsville, Longview, Range Tracker, Richfield, Sunnyvale, and Watertown.[6] The Navy retained a missile test facility at Point Magu.[6] In 1979 the name was shortened to simply the Western Test Range.[6]

Notable launches

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

See also

References

  1. Federation of American Scientists.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 30th Space Wing History Office.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Bibliography

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Western Test Range Handbook, Defense Technical Information Center, July 1981.

<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>