Naval Air Missile Test Center

Pacific Missile Test Center (PMTC) is the former name of the current Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division. The name of the center was the Naval Air Missile Test Center prior to PMTC. It is located at Naval Base Ventura County/Naval Air Station Point Mugu in Ventura County, California. The nearest city to the installation is Oxnard.

The Naval Air Warfare Center consists of both the NAS Point Mugu airfield and a rocket launching site for the U.S. Navy. The center has been an active development and test facility for the Navy since the late 1940s. Among the missiles developed and tested there include the Sparrow family and the Phoenix, and AMRAAM air-to-air missiles and the Regulus surface-to-surface missile in addition to numerous prototypes of military rockets and sounding rockets.

It was originally built for anti-aircraft training during World War II. The base later shifted from traditional anti-aircraft munitions training to become a test center for anti-aircraft missiles. Most of the missiles developed during the 1950s and 1960s were designed and tested at the base. This includes the Aim-7 Sparrow, Aim 54 Phoenix , Regulus Surface to the surface and the AGM -12 Bullpup.

This base is where most of the aircraft are launched for testing on the range. It is home to the test squadron and also other groups including the Air National Guard. This was also the airfield that US President Ronald Reagan flew into when he came to visit his ranch in Santa Barbara.

NBVC supports approximately 80 tenant commands with a base population of more than 19,000 personnel. Tenant commands encompass an extremely diverse set of specialties that support both Fleet and Fighter, including three warfare centers: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division and Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center. NBVC is also home to deployable units, including the Pacific Seabees and the West Coast E-2C Hawkeyes. Additionally, the base is home to the construction battalions that are used to create targets and facilities for the range. The Island of San Nicolas was transferred from the Naval Air Warfare Center to the base in 2004.

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