US Naval Museum of Armament and Technology

 

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The China Lake Museum is on the China Lake Military base and in order to get in you need to have  government issued ID such as a drivers license and the driver of the car needs to have registration and current proof of insurance. You have to go into the visitors center and sign in and you will be called one at a time so it takes a little while to gain entry. We have been to Ridgecrest a few times over the years and I had wanted to see this place and we finally made it. It was well worth the effort to gain entry.

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If you call the museum ahead of time you can often get  private tour led by a volunteer who in our case had worked there his entire career. There are displays covering the history of weapons development at China lake. It was the deterrent of many of these weapons developed during the cold war that kept us from having a war. No matter you thought or opinion on weapons they are a part of history. It was interesting to see how they have changed from crude to sophisticated smart weapons.

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From the museum web site "Much of the weapon development heritage of the China Lake facility--past, present, and future--is unique and irreplaceable, and has been nationally recognized as a critical resource that has provided advanced weapon system development and support for maintaining the United States' unsurpassed military strength from World War II to the present." Now, when I saw this NCIS location I had to get a picture while I as looking for Zeva.

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