Changes

This is also the testing facility for the new [[V-22 Osprey]].

Since the end of the Cold War, the Navy's Base Realignment and Closure measures have migrated research and testing facilities for both rotary and fixed-wing aircraft to NAS Patuxent River from decommissioned bases. The complex now hosts over 17,000 people, including active-duty service members, civil-service employees, defense contractor employees, and military dependents.

== History ==

=== Genesis ===

Situated on a peninsula between the Patuxent River and the [[Chesapeake Bay]], NAS Patuxent River is located on 6400 acres of what was once prime farmland, consisting of several large farms, [[Mattapany]], [[Susquehanna]], and [[Cedar Point, Maryland|Cedar Point]], as well as numerous tenant and sharecropper properties and a few clusters of vacation homes. The [[Cedar Point, Maryland|Cedar Point]] community included several churches, a post office, and a gas station. Some of the old homes now serve as quarters for Navy personnel stationed there.

In 1937, the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics sought to consolidate aviation test programs, previously being conducted at several stations, including [[Dahlgren]] and Norfolk, Virginia, the Washington Navy Yard, and Naval Air Station Anacostia in Washington, D.C., and the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [[Cedar Point, Maryland|Cedar Point]] was selected due to its remote location on the coastline, well removed from air traffic congestion, with ample space for weapons testing.

=== Wartime urgency ===