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United States Space Force | |
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Founded | 20 December 2019 1 September 1982 (42 years, 2 months as Air Force Space Command)[1] | (as an independent service)
Country | United States |
Type | Space force |
Role | Space warfare |
Size | 88 on active duty[2] |
Part of | Department of the Air Force |
Headquarters | The Pentagon Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.[1] |
Anniversaries | 20 December |
Website | www |
Commanders | |
Commander-in-Chief | President Donald Trump |
Secretary of Defense | Mark T. Esper |
Secretary of the Air Force | Barbara Barrett |
Chief of Space Operations | Gen John W. Raymond |
Senior Enlisted Advisor of the Space Force | CMSgt Roger A. Towberman |
Insignia | |
Flag |
Part of a series on the |
United States space program |
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The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space warfare service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services. The sixth and youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, it was the first branch of the military established since the formation of the independent U.S. Air Force in 1947. The direct antecedent of the Space Force, Air Force Space Command, was formed on 1 September 1982 with responsibility for space warfare operations.[3] The National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 redesignated Air Force Space Command as the U.S. Space Force, and established it as an independent branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 20 December 2019.[4]
The U.S. Space Force is organized as a military service branch within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense. The Space Force, through the Department of the Air Force, is headed by the Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, and is appointed by the president with Senate confirmation.[5] In terms of personnel count, it is the smallest U.S. armed service within the U.S. Department of Defense.
The most senior Space Force officer is the Chief of Space Operations, unless a Space Force officer also serves as either the chairman or vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Chief of Space Operations exercises supervision over the Space Force's units and serves as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Certain Space Force components will be assigned, as directed by the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Air Force, to unified combatant commands. Combatant commanders will be delegated operational authority of the forces assigned to them, while the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Space Operations will retain administrative authority over their members.
Mission, functions, and duties
[edit]Mission
[edit]The U.S. Space Force's mission is to "organize, train, and equip space forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force. Its responsibilities include developing military space professionals, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space forces to present to the Combatant Commands".[6]
The Space Force is specifically responsible for organizing, training, and equipping forces for the following mission sets:[7]
- space superiority;
- space domain awareness (military, civil, and commercial);
- offensive and defensive space control;
- command and control of space forces and satellite operations;
- space support to operations (e.g., satellite communications);
- space service support (e.g., spacelift and space range operations for military, civil, and commercial operators);
- space support to nuclear command, control, communications and nuclear detonation detection; and
- missile warning and space support to missile defense operations.
Functions
[edit]As described in the United States Space Force Act, it will be organized, trained, and equipped to:[8]
- Provide freedom of operation for the United States in, from, and to space
- Provide prompt and sustained space operations
Duties
[edit]Its duties include to:[8]
- Protect the interests of the United States in space
- Deter aggression in, from, and to space
- Conduct space operations
- ^ a b "U.S. Space Force Fact Sheet". Spaceforce.mil. United States Space Force. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
- ^ Dickstein, Corey (15 May 2020). "Space Force unveils its service flag at White House ceremony". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
Last month, the service increased from just two official members — Raymond and Towberman — to 88, when it added 86 second lieutenants who commissioned into the branch from the Air Force Academy.
- ^ "AFSPC History". www.afspc.af.mil. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- ^ "S. 1790: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020". 19 December 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Fact Sheet". www.spaceforce.mil. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- ^ "Fact Sheet". spaceforce.mil.
- ^ "Comprehensive plan for the Organizational structure of the US Space Force" (PDF). velosteam.com. 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ a b "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020" (PDF). United States House of Representatives. December 2019.