Vandenberg Proposes Heavy Launch Capacity, Congressman Raises Community Concerns

VANDENBERG / LOMPOC, Calif. (KEYT) - As vandenberg space force base pursues more launch capacity, they have issued a proposal—or, what they call a Request For Information (RFI) for heavy launch capacity at the base.

Congressman Salud Carbajal has written a letter to both the Air Force and U.S. Space Force urging thorough evaluation of potential impacts to surrounding environments and communities before proceeding with the proposed Space Launch Complex 14, or “Slick-14.”

As the congressman says, “They have been extremely receptive.”

The conversation isn’t necessarily a new one, but the RFI from December 29th for Slick-14 would break ground.

It’s essentially asking private companies if they want to help build out a new launch complex capable of handling larger rockets.

“When you're launching a heavy or super heavy capability, you want it to be in a place that's advantageous so that you're not impacting neighboring operations, it's further away from areas that it might overfly,” says Col. James Horne Iii, commander of Space Launch Delta 30.

Congressman Carbajal acknowledges the environmental stewardship the base has demonstrated in the past, as well as the benefits heavy commercial launch would bring to the economy, both locally and globally.

“Vandenberg Space Force Base provides a critical installation for not only our national security, but all those functions that we take for granted on a daily basis,” says congressman Carbajal.

Members of the congressman’s district have been vocal about the impacts of the base’s launches to date, and these impacts involve noise factors from sonic booms, as well as physical effects from the vibrations, including some cracked windows and similar environmental disturbances.

“With the super heavy, it would increase the type of launches in the future,” says Carbajal.

Chief of operations for Space Launch Delta 30, Col. James Horne III, refers to launch as a “team sport,” and says this proposal has just been made, and there’s a lot of work to be done before a single nail gets hammered.

“This first step is just to understand who's interested,” says Col. Horne. “So then we can go through an objective process, determine what makes the most sense for a particular provider to start that process, to assess and analyze. And then from that, we'll have a much better appreciation of potential impacts.”

The colonel says there is time to take the community’s questions and concerns into consideration.

“We want to be responsible stewards of the environment,” says Col. Horne. “We want to be responsible with our community partners while also maximizing our access to space to counter our adversaries activities there and ensure protection for everybody.”

More public input sessions will be taking place in the near future, and the base is making concerted efforts to be good neighbors as they charge boldly into the future.

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