Vandenberg Air Force Base present . Today, Vandenberg stands as the third-largest Air Force base after Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, and Edwards Air Force Base in California. On 4 October 1958, Cooke AFB was renamed Vandenberg AFB, in honor of General Vandenberg, the Air Force's second Chief of Staff. The transition from Army camp to missile base solidified on 15 December 1958 when Vandenberg AFB successfully launched its first missile, a PGM-17 Thor IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) The launch from Vandenberg inaugurated the intermediate-range ballistic missile portion of the Pacific Missile Range and was fired by a crew from the 1st
Andersen Air Force Base one in the Western Pacific that can permanently base U.S. heavy strategic bombers (one of the four Air Force Bomber Forward Operating Locations), including B-1B, B-2, and B-52 bombers. It is one of two critical US bases in the Asia Pacific region, along with Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Andersen is one of four bomber forward operating locations of the US Air Force. These locations provide forward support to bomber crews deploying overseas in Europe, Southwest Asia and in the Pacific. The Air Force is establishing forward-deployed bomber beddown support at key locations throughout the world and Andersen is