Eglin Air Force Base, Florida

Eglin is one of the Air Force's largest bases, and is a major test center for non-nuclear munitions. Located on the coast of the panhandle of Florida, the base covers 724 square miles of land, and has over 86,500 square miles of water ranges in the Gulf. Facilities include: a climatic laboratory, capable of subjecting bombers to subzero temperatures; a guided weapons evaluation facility; a space surveillance facility, which feeds information to Cheyenne Mountain; a major Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) school; and a Special Operations Command Center, located on Hurlburt Field, one of several auxiliary fields within and outside Eglin's large restricted perimeter. Eglin is also the munitions site for the Air Force Research Lab, and the principal test location for the Air Force Materiel Command, and is associated with a test group at Holloman AFB in New Mexico, along with the Aeronautical Systems Group at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. In terms of military and civilian workers, it is one of the most populous military bases in the country. The Air Force Armament Museum is located outside the gates, and provides a sense of the type and scale of work at Eglin.