Space Force – Law Enforcement, Military, and Terrorism News

USSF field command structure reduces command layers, focuses on space warfighter needs

U.S. Space Force organizes, trains, and equips space forces in order to protect and defend U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force.

The Department of the Air Force and the United States Space Force have finalized the new service’s organizational structure for echelons below the headquarters, reflecting the newest branch of the armed forces’ guiding principles of being a lean, agile and mission-focused organization.

The USSF field organization will consist of three echelons of command, where the Air Force currently is organized into five echelons. USSF’s organizational structure will initially consolidate and align all organize, train and equip mission execution from former Air Force space-related units.

“This is the most significant restructuring of space units undertaken by the United States since the establishment of Air Force Space Command in 1982,” said Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett. “Innovation and efficiency are driving our mission as we position the Space Force to respond with agility to protect our nation’s space capabilities and the American way of life.”

In order of hierarchy, the USSF field echelons are named field commands, deltas and squadrons. There will be three field commands aligned with specific mission focuses: Space Operations Command, Space Systems Command, and Space Training and Readiness Command. SpOC and SSC will be led by three-star general officers, and STARCOM will be led by a two-star general.

Deltas will be O-6 led and will be organized around a specific function – operations, installation support, training, etc.

Within the deltas will be squadrons focused on specific tactics. When the field command structure is fully implemented, it will eliminate one general officer echelon and one O-6 echelon of command. Functions formerly performed at the eliminated echelons will be realigned where appropriate within the USSF.

“This is an historic opportunity to launch the Space Force on the right trajectory to deliver the capabilities needed to ensure freedom of movement and deter aggression in, from and to space,” said Gen. Jay Raymond, USSF chief of space operations. “How we organize the Space Force will have a lasting impact on our ability to respond with speed and agility to emerging threats in support of the National Defense Strategy and Space Strategy.”

SpOC will be the primary force provider of space forces and capabilities for combatant commanders, coalition partners, the joint force and the nation.

The staff and operations elements of USSF at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, which is also the former AFSPC, will become the headquarters SpOC.

There is an existing unit at Vandenberg AFB, California, named Space Operations Command, which will be renamed upon activation of the field command SpOC.

SSC will be responsible for developing, acquiring, and fielding lethal and resilient space capabilities for war-fighters.

Additionally, SSC will be responsible for launch, developmental testing, on-orbit checkout, and sustainment and maintenance of USSF space systems, as well as oversight of USSF science and technology activities.

Acquisition and development organizations to include the Space and Missile Systems Center, the Commercial Satellite Communications Office, and program offices of space systems transferring to USSF from other DoD organizations will form the building blocks of the new command, which will be built out in the months to come.

STARCOM will train and educate space professionals, and develop combat-ready space forces to address the challenges of the war-fighting domain of space. Complete stand up of STARCOM is scheduled for 2021.

In the interim, a provisional Space Training and Readiness Delta, led by an O-6, will be established in July at Peterson AFB. This unit will serve as the parent organization for a number of education, training, and operational test and evaluation units transferring to the Space Force in summer 2020.

The next activities to stand up USSF field organizations include activation of SpOC, SSC and deltas beginning later in summer.

Blogs to Follow:

Spaceforce.mil (July 2020) USSF field command structure reduces command layers, focuses on space warfighter needs

Space Force Officials, Spacecom, Discuss Planetary Defense and Astronaut Launch

It’s possible that one day an asteroid may threaten the Earth and the threat would need to be mitigated, possibly by the U.S. military.

It’s possible that one day an asteroid may threaten the Earth and the threat would need to be mitigated, possibly by the U.S. military. It’s a scenario considered in a paper titled “Whither Space Power?” co-authored by two Air Force officers in 2002.

“Should be found on a collision course, whose job should it be to divert the threat, and how?” wrote Air Force Maj. Gen. John Shaw — then a major — and his co-author, Air Force Brig. Gen. Simon Worden. “It is our view that an organization the people have placed their lives in the hands of for the past several centuries — the U.S. military — is best suited to provide protection from either natural or man-made threats.”

Today, Shaw is dual-hatted as commander of the Combined Force Space Component within U.S. Space Command, and also serves as commander of Space Operations Command within the newly created U.S. Space Force.

During a June 1 webinar sponsored by SpaceNews, he explained what “planetary defense” is.

“Planetary defense, as we talk about it in the space community today, refers to defense of the planet against asteroids, natural threats … that could potentially collide with the Earth with calamitous results,” Shaw said.

Shaw said today NASA has an office responsible for cataloging things within the solar system that potentially could threaten the Earth.

While he said that years ago he was on board with the idea that the Defense Department might be primarily responsible for dealing with those kinds of threats to the planet, today he has more of an open mind about how those threats might be mitigated.

“We’re happy to team with NASA in that regard,” he said. “If a small asteroid or meteorite did hit the Earth, there would be some sort of emergency management response on the part of our nation to support wherever that landed, and the Department of Defense would be happy to be a teammate in that regard.”

Shaw also discussed the May 30 launch of NASA astronauts Air Force Col. Robert L. Behnken and retired Marine Corps Col. Douglas G. Hurley into space from Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of NASA’s Demo-2 mission.

An important part of that launch, he said, involved Defense Department personnel being ready to recover those astronauts if the mission failed and they had to return to Earth. The Defense Department has done the mission before — for the space shuttle, he noted, but it’s been a long time since recovery personnel have had to be ready to retrieve astronauts from a capsule such as the “Crew Dragon” craft that was used in the Demo-2 mission.

“We really [had] to go back to 1975 to remember when we were last supporting capsules for personal recovery operations,” he said. “And that’s a whole different profile in terms of mission planning and contingency scenarios than the shuttle.”

The space shuttle, he said, could maneuver and land at an airfield, if needed. Not so with a capsule.

“A capsule doesn’t have that maneuverability, but it has the possibility of landing just about anywhere, and it can land just about anywhere,” he said. “That means our ability to support that … has to be able to cover that total footprint, and that’s different.”

Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Thompson serves as commander of Detachment 3 of the 45th Space Wing’s 45th Operations Group. His detachment was responsible for being ready if anything went wrong with the Demo-2 mission and astronauts needed to be retrieved.

“The last two years have really been kind of the fourth quarter, getting ready for this,” he said. “We’ve been working with Boeing and SpaceX, especially SpaceX, over the last year as we finalized and put the finishing touches on the tactics, techniques and procedures for this rescue scenario.”

Thompson said his detachment is actually small — about 30 people. And for the last year that small team was preparing for the launch of the Demo-2 mission. When the launch approached, he said, “Task Force 45” stood up, and the team grew to about 150 personnel. That’s still much smaller than what was available in the 1970s for Apollo missions, he said, which included as many as 6,000 personnel, 24 aircraft and seven Navy ships.

“Today we posture, like I said, 150 members,” he said. They also have eight aircraft at their disposal, in three different locations.

“Over the last couple years, we’ve been putting those plans together,” he said. “We went through this last weekend. It went exactly as we had planned, where we were on alert … once the Merlin engines fired up. That’s really when our mission began.”

He said the team is ready for medical evacuation support three hours prior to liftoff, but it’s when the rocket fires up that they are really expected to be ready to go.

“It’s really exciting, you know, to see that the team of professionals here are some of the best,” Thompson said. “When we talk about combat search and rescue professionals worldwide, these are the men and women that we look to. The same pararescuemen that are saving lives in the combat theater in Iraq, have been in Afghanistan, doing global ops, those are the same pararescuemen that are here executing this mission.”

Air Force Brig. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess, commander of 45th Space Wing, said the May 30 launch involved weather issues up until about 30 minutes prior, and that there had also been issues with the Eastern Range that supports both Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Those issues, he said, had been cleared up by range technicians in time for successful launch, however.

“Once we got about four minutes to go, I knew we were going to be good,” Schiess said. “Then my activity really was focused on Task Force 45, where the men and women of Det. 3 and airmen across the Air Force came together, and across the world.”

Det. 3, he said, had been preparing for its mission for several years.

“This team, they are a bunch of rescue experts and they do an incredible job,” he said. “I can’t just say anymore how proud I am of the men and women of the 45th Space Wing, Det. 3, and the Task Force 45 for the efforts that we did over the last couple weeks, and specifically this weekend, all the way up to docking and then watching our two astronauts, Bob and Doug, go through the hatch into the International Space Station.”

Defense.gov (June 2020) Spacecom, Space Force Officials Discuss Planetary Defense, Astronaut Launch

U.S. Will Not Let China, Russia Deny Its Space Superiority, DOD Officials Say

Space systems underpin virtually every weapon system in the Defense Department’s arsenal, a senior DOD official told Congress.

But many systems were designed for an era when there were few threats in space, Dr. James H. Anderson, performing the duties of deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said today at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee. This is not the case today, he added, as China and Russia both seek to be able to deny the United States and its allies the advantages of space.

China and Russia are developing sophisticated on-orbit capabilities and an array of counter-space weapons capable of targeting nearly every class of U.S. space asset, Anderson told the House panel. They are expanding their space capabilities, he said, and have created military space forces that they are training and equipping to prevail in future crises and conflicts.

The United States is responding by “transforming its space enterprise, fielding resilient architectures, developing space warfighting expertise and working closely with allies in combined operations,” he said.

Soffe Men’s 3 Pack-USA Poly Cotton Military Tee

The fiscal year 2021 defense budget request provides $18 billion for space programs, including $111 million to support stand-up of the U.S. Space Force, Anderson said. It also provides funding for the new space combatant command — U.S. Space Command — and the Space Development Agency, which will accelerate the development and fielding of military space capabilities necessary to ensure U.S. and allied technological and military advantages.

In his written testimony, Anderson said the United States is actively pursuing opportunities with allies and partners to build combined space operations and interoperable, or even integrated, architecture. The flagship of this integration is the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with embedded British, Canadian and Australian exchange personnel working side by side with U.S. personnel.

“We have recently added Germany and France to the Combined Space Operations initiative,” he noted.

Space Force Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, chief of space operations, also testified.

“We can no longer assume that our space superiority is a given,” he said. “If deterrence fails, we must be ready to fight for space superiority.”

U.S. Space Command, along with the Space Force will deter aggression from conflict and do so from a position of strength, the general said. “Accordingly,” he added, “we will remain ready to defend U.S. and allied freedom of action in space. We will deliver space combat power for the joint and coalition force and we’re going to develop joint warfighters to serve in, to and from the space domain.”

Defense.gov (February, 2020) U.S. Will Not Let China, Russia Deny Its Space Superiority, DOD Officials Say

Help a veteran in need by donating here.