Музей Вооружения ВВС США во Флориде

Museum in Florida, United States

The Air Force Armament Museum is a military aviation museum adjacent to Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida, dedicated to the display of Air Force armament. It is supported by the private, non profit Air Force Armament Museum Foundation.

The museum opened to the public on 22 June 1974 in a converted 1940s era chapel. Two years later, the Air Force Armament Museum Foundation was established with the goal of constructing a new building. The foundation faced significant public opposition in its early years driven by a referendum to appropriate county funding for the new building. After the referendum failed, the original building was condemned and the museum was forced to close in 1981. The new museum building opened on 15 November 1985. Shortly thereafter, an exhibit on prisoners of war was inaugurated. Starting in 1990, a number of aircraft were received in quick succession, with an SR 71 arriving that year, a B 52 in 1991, and a MiG 21 in 1992. An exhibit about Air Force Special Operations Command was dedicated in 1996. By 2007, the museum began raising funds for an educational annex. In 2019 and 2020, a P 51 and F 86 respectively were experimentally wrapped in vinyl. Following decades of planning, an African American Military Heritage Hall – the first of four Quonset hut styled structures – opened to the public in February 2022. The B 52 on display was repainted the following April.

A wide variety of bombs, missiles, and rockets are exhibited, including the newest air to air missile, the AMRAAM, and the GBU 28 bunker buster developed for use during Operation Desert Storm. Other missiles include the Paveway series, Falcons, the Tomahawk, Mace, Hound Dog, radar controlled, laser controlled and several guided by a TV camera in the nose. Also on display is the GBU 43 MOAB, Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or by its nickname, "Mother of All Bombs", the world's largest conventional explosive weapon. A predecessor, the T 12 Cloudmaker earthquake bomb, is displayed outside, while a Fat Man casing is indoors. In addition, a BLU 82B was acquired in 2019. A gun vault displays a variety of weapons ranging from a 1903 Springfield rifle to the GAU 8, which is capable of shooting 6,000 rounds per minute. Featured are the Sikes Antique Pistol Collection, with over 180 handguns, including flintlocks, duelling pistols, Western six shooters, Civil War pistols, and a wide variety of early military weaponry.

The museum hosts the Engineers for America education program, which involves a school classroom tour of the museum with basic engineering experiments led by teachers and volunteers.