Los Angeles Air Force Base

Los Angeles Air Force Base
Part of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)
El Segundo, California, USA
The dedication ceremony of the Schriever Space Complex at Los Angeles AFB on 24 April 2006.
Coordinates	33°55′08.79″N 118°22′50.23″W / 33.9191083°N 118.3806194°W / 33.9191083; -118.3806194Coordinates: 33°55′08.79″N 118°22′50.23″W / 33.9191083°N 118.3806194°W / 33.9191083; -118.3806194
Type	Air Force Base
Site information
Owner	United States Air Force
Controlled by	Air Force Space Command
Site history
Built	1962
In use	1962-present
Garrison information
Garrison	61st Air Base Wing
Occupants	Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC)

Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB) is a non-flying United States Air Force Base located in El Segundo, California. Los Angeles Air Force Base houses and supports the headquarters of the Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). The center manages research, development and acquisition of military space systems. The 61st Air Base Wing provides support functions for the base.

Los Angeles Air Force Base is headquarters to the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), part of Air Force Space Command. SMC is responsible for research, development, acquisition, on-orbit testing and sustainment of military space and missile systems. In addition to managing Air Force space and missile systems, SMC participated in space programs conducted by other U.S. military services, government agencies and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies. SMC turns these systems over to the appropriate operating command. SMC also serves as the integrating center for the Strategic Defense initiative within Air Force Material Command. It monitors progress in more than 70 Space Defense Initiative efforts throughout AFMC. SMC itself has direct management responsibility for more than half of those efforts.

Los Angeles AFB is the only active duty installation in Los Angeles County. In addition to personnel assigned to the base, it serves all active-duty military personnel in the Greater Los Angeles area. The base, located in El Segundo, houses the main installation. Fort MacArthur, which is located 20 miles south, is a separate part of the base.

Los Angeles Air Force Base traces its history back to the Air Research and Development Command's Western Development Division, which was activated on 1 July 1954 in Inglewood, not far from the current base.

In 1961, the Air Force developed a plan to consolidate its Space Systems Division and the Research and Development (R&D) Center of The Aerospace Corporation, which had been created in 1960 to support Air Force space programs. The plan involved acquisition of two pieces of real estate adjoining the R&D Center. An aircraft plant owned by the Navy, at the northwest corner of Aviation and El Segundo Boulevards, was transferred to the Air Force in October 1962. Another site, at the southwest corner of the same intersection, was owned by a mining company. The Aerospace Corporation acquired that site in November 1962 and built its new headquarters there between February 1963 and April 1964. By April 10, 1964, the Air Force property at the intersection of Aviation and El Segundo Boulevards was designated as Los Angeles Air Force Station, which was re-designated Los Angeles Air Force Base in September 1987.