Kirtland's story had it's beginnings in the 1920's...

Kirtland's story had it's beginnings in the 1920's, when a private air field was built on what is now the east side of the base and in the late 1930's, when Albuquerque's airport was built, two large military complexes existed which are unified as one base today. In 1942, the base was renamed for Col Roy C. Kirtland, a military aviation pioneer who was one of the first students to fly with the Wright brothers. While both Kirtland Field and Sandia Base made their contributions to the war effort, Los Alamos Laboratory scientists raced to develop the first nuclear weapons. In 1976 Kirtland became the hub of Air Force space technology, which later merged with the weapons lab to become Phillips Labs, then the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Kirtland AFB is the third largest installation in the Air Force Materiel Command occupying 51,558 acres and the mission encompasses world class munitions maintenance; readiness training; research, development and testing and base support to more than 200 tenant units to include: Department of Defense, Sandia National Laboratories, Phillips Lab, Air National Guard, 140th Fighter Wing, 58th Special Operations Wing, Air Force Inspection Agency, Air Force Research Laboratory for Directed Energy and Space Vehicles, NCO Academy, AF Safety Center, FA Health Care System, AF Operational Test and Evaluation Center.