Air Force Propulsion Lab, Leuhman Ridge, California

One of the largest rocket test sites in the country. The Air Force Research Lab's Aerospace Systems Directorate has its primary field lab at the remote northeast corner of Edwards AFB, on and around Leuhman Ridge, with additional test facilities on Haystack Butte, covering a total of 65 square miles of the base. The Air Force Research Lab (used to be called Phillips Lab) is one of the primary Air Force labs, concerned with directed energy weapons, space-related defense, propulsion systems, unmanned vehicles, hypersonic vehicles, and space-based surveillance.  The Air Force Research Lab has an annual budget of $4.4 billion (2014), and is headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio with other branches of the lab at Kirkland AFB, N.M., Rome, N.Y., and Eglin AFB, Florida. The Edwards facilities serve the Aerospace Systems Directorate, which was formed by the merger of the Air Vehcles Directorate with the Propulsion Directorate. There is a space simulation facility as part of the Astronautics Lab, and several rocket engine test stands some of which are visible from the highway, prominently sticking out of the top of Leuhman Ridge.