Since the late 1940s, the Pacific Missile Test Center in Point Mugu, CA has been an active test and evaluation facility for the U.S. Navy. Missiles that have been developed and tested there include the Sparrow family, Regulus and the Phoenix air-to-air missiles.
This report examines the technical history of the Pacific Missile Test Center with emphasis on the role test and evaluation play in the development process.
“As the men of the newly commissioned NAMTC returned to work after the brief ceremony, most were aware that the Navy had accumulated considerable experience in launching, guiding, and recovering pilotless aircraft; but they were also fully a ware that the science of guided missiles was in its infancy and that they were, in a real sense, ‘pioneers.'” (p 1)
This report was released to the Nautilus Institute under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).