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
Griffiss Air Force Base base closure on 30 September 1995, meant that 5,000 jobs or 30 percent of the city's economic base were lost. The population decreased by 10,000, from 44,350 in 1990 to 34,950 in 2000. The Air Force Research Laboratory had not been closed, and became core of the redevelopment plan, of making it part of a corporate business and to build a technology park around it. In 2004, a new $24 million facility opened. Griffiss Air Force Base Griffiss Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force installation in the northeastern United States, located in central New York state