Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation located in Kern County in southern California, about northeast of Lancaster and east of Rosamond. It is the home of the Air Force Test Center, Air Force Test Pilot School, and NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center. It is the Air Force Materiel Command center for conducting and supporting research and development of flight, as well as testing and evaluating aerospace systems from concept to combat. It also hosts many test activities conducted by America's commercial aerospace industry. Previously known as Muroc Air Force Base,
History of Eglin Air Force Base Force reorganized the oversight of its research and development program under the auspices of a new major agency – the Air Research and Development Command (ARDC). The new command was activated on 23 January 1950 with Major General David M. Schlatter as its commander. By April 1951, Wright-Patterson's research and development agencies, various laboratories, Edwards Air Force Base and Holloman Air Force Base had been transferred from Air Materiel Command to ARDC. By the end of 1951, ARDC's principal field components included the Wright Air Development Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards