Introduction

The United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defence, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometres (62 miles) and greater above mean sea level. US Space Command is responsible for the operational employment of space forces that are provided by the uniformed services of the Department of Defence.

Space Command was originally created in September 1985 to provide joint command and control for all military forces in outer space and coordinate with the other combatant commands. SPACECOM was disestablished in 2002, and its responsibilities and forces were merged into US Strategic Command. It was re-established on 29 August 2019, with a reemphasized focus on space as a warfighting domain.

The US Space Force is the military service responsible for organising, training, and equipping the majority of forces for US Space Command, which also includes a smaller number of forces from each of the other branches of the US Armed Forces.

Refer to US Space National Guard.

Mission

US Space Command, working with allies and partners, plans, executes, and integrates military spacepower into multi-domain global operations in order to deter aggression, defend national interests, and when necessary, defeat threats.

US Space Command has four “space truths” that provide the foundation for its vision and operations:

• Space is a vital interest that is integral to the American way of life and national security.
• Space superiority enables the Joint Force to rapidly transition from competition to conflict and prevail in a global, all-domain fight.
• Space warfighters generate the combat power to win in space.
• Space provides the warfighter a combat advantage from the ultimate high ground to the last tactical mile.

Brief History

Early Military Space Defence

Early military space activities were predominantly focused on research and development, rather than operations, and split across the Air Force, Army, and Navy. In 1959, Admiral Arleigh Burke proposed the creation of the Defence Astronautical Agency to control all military space programmes. This proposal was supported by the Army and Navy, but opposed by the Air Force.

Arguing that space defence was an extension of air defence, the Joint Chiefs of Staff ultimately agreed with the Air Force, putting operational control of space defence forces under the unified Continental Air Defence Command and multinational North American Air Defence Command in 1960. In 1975, Continental Air Defence Command was inactivated and replaced with Aerospace Defence Command (ADCOM), a specified command led by the Air Force. In 1981, North American Air Defence Command changed its name to North American Aerospace Defence Command to better reflect its role in both air and space defence.

Strategic Defence Initiative and the first US Space Command

• Army Service Components:
  • Army Space Planning Group: 1985 to 1986
  • Army Space Agency: 1986 to 1988
  • Army Space Command: 1988 to August 1992
  • Army Space and Strategic Defence Command: August 1992 to 01 October 1998
  • Army Space and Missile Defence Command: 01 October 1998 to 01 October 2002

• Naval Service Components:
  • Naval Space Command: 01 October 1985 to July 2002
  • Naval Network Warfare Command: July 2002 to 01 October 2002

• Air Force Service Components:
  • Air Force Space Command: 23 September 1985 to 23 March 1992
  • Fourteenth Air Force: 23 March 1992 to 01 October 2002

• Space Command:
  • 23 September 1985 to 01 October 2002 (merged into US Strategic Command)
  • 29 August 2019 to Present

The Reagan Administration’s Strategic Defence Initiative brought a new focus on space. In 1983, General James V. Hartinger, the commander of Aerospace Defence Command and Air Force Space Command, proposed movement towards a unified space command. The Air Force supported a unified command, which would be dominated by the aerospace service, however, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were satisfied with the current arrangement. However, the White House supported the Air Force’s position that a unified command should be created, and on 20 November 1984, President Ronald Reagan approved its establishment. US Space Command’s missions would include integrating tactical warning and space operations, including control of space, direction of space support activities, and planning for ballistic missile defence. US Space Command would also replace Aerospace Defence Command as the supporting US command to North American Aerospace Defence Command, sharing the same commander.

On 23 September 1985, US Space Command was activated as a functional combatant command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs and Aerospace Defence Command was inactivated on 19 December 1986. In February 1988, US Space Command was assigned the ballistic missile defence mission in preparation for assuming operational command of the Strategic Defence Initiative. However, the end of the Cold War significantly reduced the investment in SDI.

In 1991, the Joint Chiefs of Staff debated establishing US Strategic Command assume responsibility for nuclear deterrence, missile defence, and space. US Space Command would have been made a sub-unified command under the US Strategic Command. However, the decisive role played by US Space Command in the Persian Gulf War prevented its absorption into US Strategic Command, providing tactical missile warning, GPS, and other space data to forces in theatre.

In 1997, General Howell M. Estes III proposed designating space as a geographic area of responsibility, transitioning US Space Command from a functional to a geographic command. This effort was opposed by the Joint Staff, the State Department, and the National Security Council and did not occur. However, there was growing discussion about giving US Space Command the mission for information support and renaming it to United States Space and Information Command. While US Space Command was not renamed, it did assume responsibility for information, or cyberspace, operations.

Following the September 11 attacks, there was a growing focus on homeland defence and counter-terrorism at the expense of space. The Defence Department was intent on establishing United States Northern Command, merging US Space Command and US Strategic Command in 2002. On 01 October 2002, the first US Space Command was shut down.

Space in US Strategic Command

On 01 October 2002, as US Space Command inactivated, a new US Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, stood up. Within STRATCOM, the responsibilities for space operations were initially managed by the Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike, led by the commander of the Air Force’s Eighth Air Force. However, in 2006, space regained its own functional component under US Strategic Command, under the command of the Fourteenth Air Force commanded.

Following the inactivation of US Space Command in 2002, Russia and China began developing sophisticated on-orbit capabilities and an array of counter-space weapons. In particular, China conducted the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test, destroying its Fengyun spacecraft, which, according to NASA, created 2,841 high-velocity debris items, a larger amount of dangerous space junk than any other space event in history. On 29 August 2019, United States Space Command was re-established as a geographic combatant command. In 2008, US Strategic Command conducted Operation Burnt Frost to destroy a non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite, before its toxic hydrazine tank could re-enter and cause potential harm to human safety, with a RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 launched from the USS Lake Erie.

This construct lasted until 2017, when the commander of Air Force Space Command became the Joint Force Space Component Commander, replacing it.

US Space Command Re-Established

The 2019 National Defence Authorisation Act, which was signed into law in 2018, directed the re-establishment of U.S. Space Command as a sub-unified combatant command under US Strategic Command; however, in December 2018, the Trump administration directed that US Space Command instead be a newly established, full unified combatant command, with full responsibilities for space.

On 26 March 2019, US Air Force General John Raymond was nominated to be the commander of the second establishment of USSPACECOM, pending Senate approval. In 2019 the Department of the Air Force released the list of finalists for the location of Headquarters Space Command: Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Schriever Air Force Base, Peterson Air Force Base, Buckley Air Force Base, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Redstone Arsenal. US Space Command was officially re-established on 29 August 2019, during a ceremony at the White House. The former Joint Force Space Component Commander was dissolved and folded into Space Command. Following the creation of the United States Space Force in December 2019, the Department of the Air Force widened its search for a location of Space Command’s permanent headquarters.

USSPACECOM has two subordinate commands: Combined Force Space Component Command (CFSCC), and Joint Task Force Space Defence (JTF-SD). CFSCC plans, integrates, conducts, and assesses global space operations in order to deliver combat relevant space capabilities to Combatant Commanders, Coalition partners, the Joint Force, and the Nation. JTF-SD conducts, in unified action with mission partners, space superiority operations to deter aggression, defend US and allied interests, and defeat adversaries throughout the continuum of conflict.

In August 2020, In the meeting of the National Space Council, acting Director of National Intelligence announced “in case of an attack on the U.S. satellites the operational control of intelligence community assets will be in the ambit of the military”, resulting in the National Reconnaissance Office being operationally subordinated to the commander of US Space Command in matters of space defence.

On 24 August 2021, two years after its establishment, US Space Command announced that it had reached initial operating capability. Achieving full operating capability, according to Lieutenant General John E. Shaw, deputy commander of US Space Command, is dependent on the selection of the combatant command’s permanent headquarters.

US Space Command is planning to reorganise its subordinate commands, possibly reactivating the Joint Force Space Component Command (JFSCC), the precursor organisation of the combatant command. JFSSC is planned to be the combatant command’s “primary warfighting command,” formed by combining CFSCC and JTF–SD. Space Force Lieutenant General Stephen Whiting, commander of SpOC, is planned to lead the new organisation.

In 2023, US Space Command regained its responsibility for missile defence from US Strategic Command and will be taking over the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defence.

Headquarters

In January 2021, it was announced that Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama was the preferred final location for US Space Command. The other locations in contention were Kirtland Air Force Base, Offutt Air Force Base, Joint Base San Antonio, its interim location at Peterson Space Force Base, and Patrick Space Force Base. Despite Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, being both the original and interim location of Space Command headquarters, Redstone Arsenal was selected, reportedly due to political pressure directly from then-president Donald Trump. A formal review from the DoD IG was initiated to ensure the process that selected Huntsville as the preferred location was impartial and factually sound. The then Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin came out with his public support and backed the Department of the Air Force’s decision process which resulted in the selection of Redstone Arsenal. In May 2022, the review found that the selection of Redstone Arsenal as the permanent site was reasonable and justified. In July 2023, the move to Huntsville was cancelled. General James Dickinson, Commander of the Space Command, argued that moving the headquarters to Alabama from its current location in Colorado Springs would hurt military readiness. Republicans have accused the Biden administration of acting out of spite due to a partisan standoff over the Pentagon’s abortion access policies at the time.

Organisation

Service Components

• Army Space and Missile Defence Command
• Marine Corps Forces Space Command
• Navy Space Command
• First Air Force (Air Forces Space)
• United States Space Forces – Space

Functional Components

• Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defence
• Combined Space Operations Centre (subordinated to CFSCC)
• Joint Navigation Warfare Centre (subordinated to CFSCC)
• Joint Overhead Persistent Infrared Centre (subordinated to CFSCC)
• Missile Warning Centre (subordinated to CFSCC)
• National Space Defence Centre (subordinated to JTF-SD)
• Joint Force Headquarters Cyber – Air Force

Previous, now-deactivated functional components included the Combined Force Space Component Command at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, and the Joint Task Force-Space Defence at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado. Both were disestablished with the creation of US Space Forces – Space to take on SpOC’s Space Force responsibilities.

Relationship with the United States Space Force

United States Space Command is the unified combatant command for all military space operations, while the United States Space Force is the military service responsible for organising, training, and equipping the majority of forces for US Space Command. Space Command’s Space Force service component is Space Operations Command, providing the majority of space forces. US Space Command also consists of smaller amounts of forces from the U S Army, US Marine Corps, US Navy, and US Air Force. This mirrors the relationship between the Space Force’s predecessor, Air Force Space Command, and US Space Command (and between 2002 and 2019, United States Strategic Command).

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