ARPA's power as an independent agency took a significant hit when Congress passed the Defense Reorganization Act of 1958, creating the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E), which would grant the services more authority in space than ARPA did.[2]. "Back in 2017, Russia launched a . Eisenhower always intended to have parallel civil and military space programs, only temporarily putting civil space programs under ARPA. Space Delta 2 became the space domain awareness delta, replacing the 21st Operations Group; Space Delta 3 became the space electronic warfare delta, replacing the 721st Operations Group; Space Delta 4 became the missile warning delta, replacing 460th Operations Group and absorbing the ground-based missile warning radars of the 21st Operations Group; Space Delta 5 became the command and control delta, replacing the 614th Air Operations Center; Space Delta 6 became the cyberspace operations delta, replacing the 50th Network Operations Group; Space Delta 7 became the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance delta, replacing Air Combat Command's 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group; Space Delta 8 became the satellite communication and navigation warfare delta, replacing the 50th Operations Group; Space Delta 9 became the orbital warfare delta, replacing the 750th Operations Group; the Peterson-Schriever Garrison became responsible for the base administration of Peterson Air Force Base, Schriever Air Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Thule Air Base, New Boston Air Force Station, and Kaena Point Satellite Tracking Station, replacing the 21st Space Wing and the 50th Space Wing; the Buckley Garrison became responsible for the base administration of Buckley Air Force Base, Cape Cod Air Force Station, Cavalier Air Force Station, and Clear Air Force Station, replacing the 460th Space Wing. In August 1990, the DSP constellation consisted of three operational satellites and two spares. [2], The Second World War made apparent the need for military communications over longer range, with greater security, higher capacity, and improved reliability. Air Force Space Command provided direct support to Operation Enduring Freedom, enabling satellite communications, global positioning system enhancements, and deployed personnel to support counterterrorism operations. [2], By mid-1968, 36 fixed and mobile ground terminals, the responsibility of the Army, completed the satellite communications system. This was supported by chief of staff of the Army General Maxwell D. Taylor, under the premise that space transcended the interests of any one service, however it was opposed by chief of staff of the Air Force General Thomas D. White, who been stating that space was the domain of the Air Force under the idea of aerospace. Management of the Western Range at Vandenberg was initially the responsibility of the Air Force Western Test Range while launches were performed by the 6595th Aerospace Test Wing. There was strong disagreement between the Air Force and Navy over who would operate the system, with the Navy preferring to operate it as a separate system, while the Air Force wanted to have it under the operational command of NORAD and Continental Air Defense Command, with day to day operations handled by Air Defense Command. In addition the Office of Aerospace Research was established on the Air Staff at the Pentagon. During the historic launch of NASA's Artemis 1 mission to the moon in November 2022, for example, SLD 45 oversaw radar tracking of the agency's SLS mega moon rocket over the Eastern Range. Force application was defined as fire support operations from space, such as ballistic missile defense and power projection operations against terrestrial targets. In February 1977, the Defense Communications System authorized the Space and Missile Systems Organization to begin development on the Defense Satellite Communications System Phase III (DSCS III), with an expected operational date of 1981 to 1984. The Navstar Global Positioning System was nearing the end of its prototyping and validation phase when turned over to Space Command in 1984, with 7 Block I satellites on orbit. [2], Generally considered to be the most important military space program, national reconnaissance programs were assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office since 1961, however strategic missile warning programs remained within the military services, specifically the Air Force. As well, he stated that the line between military and civil space would need to be crossed in a comprehensive, lunar landing program that would land astronauts on the Moon between 1967 and 1970 and that such an effort would produce important technologies, industries, and lessons learned for both military and civil space programs. In 1987, General John L. Piotrowski, SPACECOM commander, began to argue that the space launch mission needed to be transferred from the Space Division to Air Force Space Command, enabling U.S. Space Command to directly request launch operations during wartime. In late 1982 and early 1983, Strategic Air Command began to transfer its 50 space activities to Space Command, including Space Command's headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Thule Air Base and Sondrestrom Air Base in Greenland, Clear Air Force Station, the Defense Meteorological Support Program, Defense Support Program, as well as the Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (Milstar) and the Global Positioning System, which were in development and acquisitions phase. In December 1988, the Air Force announced that it would intend to consolidate space launch operations from Air Force Systems Command to Air Force Space Command. Early American military space activities began immediately after the conclusion of the Second World War. The establishment of the USSF resulted from widespread recognition that Space was a national security imperative. Initial Defense Communication Satellite Program terminals were installed in Saigon and Nha Trang in July 1967, enabling the transmission of high-resolution photography between Saigon and Washington D.C., enabling intelligence analysts and national leadership to assess near-real-time battlefield intelligence. The Army's component was smaller, first consisting of the Army Space Planning Group from 1985 to 1986, before being upgraded to the Army Space Agency in 1986, and finally establishing Army Space Command in 1988. The U.S. Space Force is a direct descendant of the Air Force Space Command established in 1982. For Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Air Force Space Command deployed space operators to forward operating bases in the Middle East and the Defense Satellite Communications System Phase III provided 80% of bandwidth for allied forces in theater, while 85% of Milstar communications capacity was directed towards support of tactical forces. The reorganization also resulted in the subordination of the Eastern Range and Patrick Air Force Base to the Eastern Space and Missile Center and the Western Range and Vandenberg Air Force Base to the Western Space and Missile Center, both of which were subordinated under the Space and Missile Test Organization. The disjointed nature of military space forces across three military commands resulted in a reevaluation of space force organization within the Air Force. Under the structure signed into law, Space Force would be part of the U.S. Department of the Air Force, in much the same way that the United States Marine Corps is part of the U.S. Department of the Navy. Specific operations that were supported by space forces through DMSP support included the Navy's destruction of the Thanh Ha Bridge in North Vietnam and Operation Ivory Coast by Army Special Forces and Air Commandos to rescue American prisoners of war in 1970. The Space Force was created on Dec. 20, . Under secretary Mark lobbied, ultimately unsuccessfully, to have Aerospace Defense Command become the primary space command within the Air Force. Many believe the Air Force treats space solely as a supporting capability that enhances the primary mission of the Air Force to conduct offensive and defensive air operations. In December 1973, it was renamed the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). WASHINGTON Congress has approved a compromise defense policy bill that creates a new Space Force in exchange for establishing paid parental leave for federal workers, as part of $738 billion. [2], In response to the cautious approach of Air Research and Development Command and delaying tactics by the Air Staff, assistant secretary of the Air Force for research and development Trevor Gardner convened the Strategic Missiles Evaluation Committee led by John von Neumann to accelerate ballistic missile development. On 20 December, its first organizational change occurred when Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett redesignated Air Force Space Command's Fourteenth Air Force as Space Operations Command. Space Force: What will the new military branch actually do? This launch also placed into orbit a number of test satellites, including the Navy's DODGE gravity gradient experiment, the DATS satellite, and Lincoln Experimental Satellite-5. Military Airlift Command and Strategic Air Command also attempted to claim operational responsibility for the shuttle. In 1971, Vandenberg was selected to perform near-polar Space Shuttle launches. The 4000th Support Group was reassigned to SAC's 1st Strategic Aerospace Division on 1 January 1966, being renamed the 4000th Aerospace Application Group on 1 January 1973 and then the 4000th Satellite Operations Group on 3 April 1981. [4], In August 1954, Congress authorized the government to begin development of a satellite to be launched for the International Geophysical Year. The U.S. Air Force was created through the 1947 National Security Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman. Rather, the Air Staff felt that ARPA should focus on policy decisions and leave project engineering to the lowest level at the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division. The Defense Communications Agency maintained overall control of the program, with the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization responsible for the spacecraft, Titan IIIC boosters, and operations from the Air Force Satellite Control Facility, while the Army Signal Corps was responsible for the ground-segment. This sparked Secretary MacNamara to direct Herbert York, director of defense research and development, and secretary of the Air Force Eugene M. Zuckert to assess the national space programs in terms of defense interests, specifically considering the findings of the Gardner Report. [2], The 9th Aerospace Defense Division had responsibility for all Air Defense Command space forces, including the Missile Defense Alarm System, Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, Space Detection and Tracking System, NORAD Combat Operations Center, the Bomb Alarm System, and the Nuclear Detonation System. However, there were concerns if the DSCS network could provide the requisite capacity and concerns that satellite communications would be jammed by Iraqi forces, resulting in the reallocation of spacecraft by the 3rd Satellite Control Squadron, which flew the constellation. It has its own chief. General Hill also argued to his fellow generals that the Air Force required a space operations command and that Aerospace Defense Command fit that role perfectly. In response, on 23 January 1950, the Air Force established a deputy chief of staff of the Air Force for research and on 1 February 1950 activated Air Research and Development Command (ARDC). Coalition forces also received weather data from the Japan Meteorological Agency's Himawari satellites, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites' two Meteosats, and Soviet Union's twelve Meteor satellites. Within the Department of Defense the recommendations of creating an under secretary of defense for space, intelligence, and information or putting space programs in a distinct funding category went unheeded. This proposal made Air Force leadership extremely uncomfortable, changing the Air Force's legislative mandate to: "be trained and equipped for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive operations in air and space, including coordination with ground and naval forces and the preservation of free access to space for U.S . The Space Force swore in its first 7 enlisted recruits on 20 October 2020, graduating basic military training on 10 December 2020 and its first Officer Training School candidates commissioned on 16 October. Space forces also saw their first employment in the Vietnam War, providing weather and communications support to ground and air forces. [2], Milstar was intended to provide communication for the National Command Authority, and to ultimately replace the Navy's Fleet Satellite Communications System and Air Force Satellite Communications. Furthermore, he testified that the Advanced Research Projects Agency should be dissolved, that the Director of Defense Research and Engineering should assume the role of providing policy guidance and service responsibility, and that space research and development control be returned to the military services. General James E. Hill attempted to fight its inactivation, highlight its bi-national nature and advocating for Aerospace Defense Command to become a Space Defense Command. By the end of its first year, the Aerospace Corporation had 1,700 employees and was responsible for 12 space programs. United States Space Command was folded into United States Strategic Command to make way for United States Northern Command, which was responsible for nuclear warfare and deterrence, further diluting military space leadership. The establishment of the USSF resulted from widespread recognition that Space was a national security imperative. It was intended to be the first true spaceplane, replacing atmospheric bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Other space surveillance squadrons included the 2nd Surveillance Squadron (Sensor)[2], Air Defense Command's Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, operated by the 71st Surveillance Wing, also provided supplemental space surveillance. The Naval Research Laboratory, however, proposed the single-service Project Vanguard, developing the Vanguard rocket and satellite, along with the Minitrack satellite tracking network. [2], Following the debate between the Air Force and Navy over operational control of the Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS), on 7 November 1960, the Joint Chiefs of Staff operational command of SPADATS to North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) and Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). In response, the Air Force led a public campaign to emphasize that space was a natural extension of its mission, coining the term "aerospace" to describe a single continuous sphere of operations from the Earth's atmosphere to outer space. It's a phenomenal force." At Titanic depths, some 12,500 feet down, the water pressure is nearly 400 times more than at the ocean's surface some 6,000 pounds would have been pressing down . The constellation was later completed, and by the 1980s DSCS II provided strategic communications through 46 ground terminals, the Diplomatic Telecommunications Service' 52 terminals, and the Ground Mobile Forces 31 tactical terminals. The launch of Sputnik greatly embarrassed the United States, which had the year prior prohibited any government officials to speak publicly about spaceflight. [30] Other supporters include Air Force General and commander of both United States Space Command and Air Force Space Command John W. Raymond, Navy Admiral and NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis, Air Force Colonel and astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Air Force Colonel and astronaut Terry Virts, Marine Corps Colonel and astronaut Jack R. Lousma, astronaut David Wolf, astronaut Clayton Anderson, CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. It was approved for full scale development on 25 August 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Under the pressure and passivity that President Reagan would propose an intendent space force be created, the Air Force relented, committing to the establishment of a major command for space, briefly considering a organizational relationship where the commander of the Space Division would also be duel-hatted as the Aerospace Defense Command deputy commander for space. The primary service component of U.S. Space Command was Air Force Space Command (AFSPC or AFSPACECOM), while the Navy established Naval Space Command (NAVSPACECOM) shortly after on 1 October 1983. [2], Each of the three services continued to have independent ballistic missile and space development programs, with the United States Army Ordnance Department running Project Hermes out of White Sands, albeit with representatives from the Air Force Cambridge Research Center and Naval Research Laboratory.