Kirtland AFB Rocket Systems Launch Program

Kirtland AFB Rocket Systems Launch Program poster art.

The Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP) is part of Launch Enterprise Experimental (SMC/LEX) located at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The RSLP program is responsible for providing suborbital launch capability for various DoD, DOE, and NASA organizations. Primary customers are AF Space Command, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the United States Army Space and & Strategic Defense Command. Sounding rockets provide the majority of mission requirements. These boosters use excess ballistic missile assets, primarily Minuteman rocket motors. Minuteman II provides the ICBM class of suborbital mission launch vehicles, and are used as targets and experiment platforms to deliver targets for ballistic missile defense and new concepts in weapon systems development. Contracts are in place to provide flexible and cost effective conduits to meet short term, quick response mission requirements, typically within 12-18 months. The program provides full launch service capability including mission planning, booster refurbishment, range support, launch services, and post flight analysis.

Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy C. Kirtland. The military and the international airport share the same runways, making ABQ a joint civil-military airport.