Air Force Reserve Command officials of the 934th Airlift Wing at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport/Air Reserve Station, Minn., gained an additional five years to use private property for practice air drops when they signed a new lease agreement in mid-November with the landowner, Burdette Stief, a World War II Army veteran. The Reserve wing has leased the land for the past 25 years, while before that a joint use with the Air National Guard dated to the 1960s. Yes, Stief gets paid—now $33,600 per year—but Reserve officials say he could have chosen to develop the property.
How Vandenberg’s Range Is Scaling to Meet Launch Demand
April 10, 2026
In the last five years, the annual launch rate at the Space Force’s West Coast range has surged from a handful of missions to 66 in 2025. Now, Vandenberg Space Force Base in California expects to support 150 launches in the next five years and upwards of 200 by 2036.