Battlespace Environment Laboratory Dedicates New Location Published Sept. 26, 2011 By Eva Blaylock Space Vehicles KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico -- The Air Force Research Laboratory celebrated the grand opening of the Battlespace Environment Laboratory with a technology outreach event and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Battlespace Environment Laboratory, or BEL, will house the Battlespace Environment Division (RVB) of the Space Vehicles Directorate. RVB relocated to New Mexico from its former home at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC). On June 15, a formal inactivation ceremony effectively marked the end of operations at Hanscom. The 145,000-square-foot Battlespace Environment Laboratory operates under an annual budget of approximately $89 million and can accommodate up to 300 people. The BEL measures, forecasts and determines the impact of space and the upper atmosphere environment on space systems and on command, control, communication, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. The mission is to specify, forecast, mitigate and exploit these environmental impacts for the benefit of Department of Defense systems.