During a ceremony at the White House, President Donald Trump on Thursday formally announced the reestablishment of U.S. Space Command after its 17-year hiatus.
Space Command or SpaceCom will be the 11 combatant command that is tasked with unifying and directing national security operations in space. It will initially be headquartered at Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs and will be manned of about 287 people.
The secretary of the Air Force selected six candidates as possible permanent locations for the command’s headquarters: Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado; Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colorado; Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; Redstone Arsenal, Alabama; Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado; and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. A
U.S. Military officials say 87 units will work to provide everything from missile warnings to satellite-based navigation for troops in the field.
“The dangers to our country constantly evolve and so must we,” said Trump.
“This is a landmark day, one that recognizes the centrality of space to America’s security and defense,” added the American president.
“SpaceCom will ensure that America’s dominance in space is never threatened.”
The renewed focus on space as a military domain reflects concern about the vulnerability of US satellites, both military and commercial, that are critical to American interests and are potentially susceptiblr to disruption by Chinese and Russian anti-satellite weapons.
“Our adversaries are weaponizing earth’s orbits with new technology targeting American satellites that are critical to both battlefield operations and our way of life at home.”
“Our freedom to operate in space is also essential to detecting and destroying any missile launched against the United States.”
SpaceCom will be led by Army Lt. Gen. John W. Raymond.
He said that the command will start out small. Their goal is to reach “initial operational capability” in the coming year and “full operational capability” in the years beyond. Of the $83.8 million requested for the command is fiscal year 2020, $8.2 million is new money and $75.6 million would be transferred from other accounts.
There will be two components supporting SpaceCom: a Combined Force Space Componen Command and Joint Task Force Space Defense. The Combined Forces Space Component Command at Vandenberg will be responsible to support military commanders around the world with space services such as GPS-based navigation, space-based data, satellite communications and missile warning. The Joint Task Force Space Defense at Schriever will be co-located with the National Space Defense Center and will be responsible for protecting military satellites on orbit.
(With reports from Bombo Christian Yosores)
