Maj. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt is slated to take over as the deputy commander of the Space Force’s operations branch and as head of a related warfighting group underneath U.S. Space Command, a military spokesperson confirmed Oct. 30.
Burt is assigned to become commander of SPACECOM’s Combined Force Space Component Command, which provides daily global operations support through the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.; the Missile Warning Center at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colo.; the Joint Overhead Persistent Infrared Center at Buckley Air Force Base, Colo.; and the Joint Navigation Warfare Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. It also oversees certain Air Force, Army, and Navy space units.
She will also become the No. 2 officer at the Space Force’s Space Operations Command at Vandenberg, the field command that manages personnel and resources for the service’s combat units. Space Operations Command readies forces for U.S. Space Command to use.
Space Force spokesperson 1st Lt. Rachel L. Brinegar did not say when Burt will start the new jobs. The two-star general currently serves as operations and communications director at Space Force headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.
Burt is a decorated space professional who commanded the 50th Space Wing and other organizations focused on missions including GPS enterprise operations and missile warning. She has worked in the space field over the entire course of her nearly 30-year career in the Department of the Air Force, and is a pivotal figure in standing up the Office of the Chief of Space Operations in the Pentagon and other aspects of Space Force planning.
She will run key pieces of the military space combat enterprise as Maj. Gen. John E. Shaw leaves to become SPACECOM’s deputy commander. The Senate confirmed his promotion to lieutenant general on Oct. 26.
Tapping Burt to take Shaw’s place also elevates a female officer to a pivotal warfighting position as the Space Force looks to diversify its ranks.