North Oscura Peak, a 7,976-foot summit in New Mexico’s Oscura Mountains within White Sands Missile Range, became a durable military research site after beginning as an Army missile tracking station. In 1972 it was expanded for the Laser Airborne Simulation and Test Site, which studied whether airborne laser scanning could detect optically directed antiaircraft systems during the Vietnam War. Refurbished in 1997, the site gained new optics, lasers, computers, and a telescope, while Salinas Peak received matching upgrades. Researchers used laser links across about 35 miles to study atmospheric distortion and beam correction, supporting improved missile tracking, sensor systems, and transmission of laser energy through the atmosphere.