Kendall Moves Forward Reorganizing Space Acquisition

Kendall Moves Forward Reorganizing Space Acquisition

Aug. 25, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says his approach to any departmental reorganization is “to move quickly to get the big parts right.” Now, less than a month since his confirmation, he has announced changes to the department’s acquisition structure.

Kendall told an audience at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Aug. 24 that the Department of the Air Force’s Space Acquisition Directorate is moving under the department’s more newly established space side of acquisitions. He also said he plans to speed up the process of moving the Space Development Agency inside the department.

Specifically, the Space Acquisition Directorate moves from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, known as SAF/AQ, to the newer Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, which will report directly to the Secretary of the Air Force. Meanwhile, Kendall said he’s changing the abbreviation for the space acquisition assistant secretary’s office from SAF/SP to SAF/SQ to better reflect is focus on acquisition.

The Space Development Agency was expected to become part of the Space Force by October 2022, but Kendall now wants to move it under SAF/SQ. The Air Force has not yet announced a timeline for that move, but Kendall wants it to happen before the original deadline.

In introducing Kendall, Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond described the new Secretary as “custom built” to lead the department because of a “half century” of experience in national security, starting with his service in the Army and including about five years as the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics from 2012 to 2017. (Kendall in return followed up to describe Raymond as the “father of the Space Force.”)

The position of assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration dates to December 2019, but no appointee has ever served as a confirmed assistant secretary. Kendall announced during the speech that Brig. Gen. Steven P. Whitney will take over leading the office until an assistant secretary is in place. Whitney will be military deputy to the new appointee. Meanwhile Shawn J. Barnes is leaving the position of deputy assistant secretary to become the legislative liaison at the department’s financial management office.

While the reorganization is effective immediately, SAF/AQ will retain the authority of service acquisition executive for both assistant secretary offices as long as the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act is in effect, according to a spokesperson for Kendall’s office.

European Bases Increase Support for Fleeing Afghans as Airlift Continues

European Bases Increase Support for Fleeing Afghans as Airlift Continues

Aug. 25, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. bases across Europe are building up their capacity to temporarily house and screen Afghan evacuees fleeing Taliban rule, as the Aug. 31 deadline to withdrawal U.S. forces from Afghanistan looms.

So far, 82,300 people have been airlifted out of Afghanistan as part of the overall evacuation since Aug. 14. In a 24-hour period ending early Aug. 25, 90 aircraft departed Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, including 37 U.S C-17s and five U.S. C-130s. This meant an aircraft was taking off once every 39 minutes.

Another 10,000 people were in the airport waiting for flights, as thousands more crowded the gates to the facility hoping to get through before U.S. forces leave.

“Our mission remains unchanged, said Maj. Gen. William D. “Hank” Taylor, the Joint Staff’s deputy director for regional operations in an Aug. 25 briefing. “For each day of this operation, we have carried out the direction of the President and the Secretary of Defense. Until that mission changes, we will continue to put forth our maximum effort to safely evacuate as many people as possible.”

U.S. bases in Europe, such as Ramstein Air Base, Germany, are increasing their capacity to bring on these evacuees. Once they arrive, evacuees are immediately given food, water, and shelter, said U.S. European Command boss Gen. Tod D. Wolters in an Aug. 25 briefing. Some of the arriving evacuees have required additional medical care.

Notably, an Afghan woman on Aug. 21 gave birth when a C-17 landed at Ramstein. Wolters said he spoke with the parents, and they named the baby girl “Reach” after the aircraft’s call sign for the flight.

“Being an Air Force fighter pilot, it’s my dream to watch that young child called Reach grow up to be a U.S. citizen and fly United States Air Force fighters in our Air Force,” Wolters said.

As of Aug. 25, Ramstein had 5,783 evacuees on base. Flights first arrived on Aug. 20, with follow-on flights taking evacuees to the continental United States starting on Aug. 23. To date, 1,605 evacuees have left Ramstein for the U.S.

Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, and Naval Station Rota, Spain, are beginning to take in personnel, with other locations across the continent preparing for possible arrivals. This includes Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, and small Army posts in Germany and Kosovo, Wolters said.

Other USAF bases are sending personnel to help with the operations. For example, Airmen with the 48th Medical Group and security forces with the 501st Combat Support Wing at RAF Mildenhall, England, deployed to Ramstein to help. Aerial porters with the 728th Air Mobility Squadron at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, deployed to Southwest Asia to help run port operations.

Wolters said the arriving evacuees are screened for COVID-19 and are beginning to be offered vaccinations when they arrive at Washington-Dulles International Airport. There are preliminary discussions to offer vaccines at the European bases.

The evacuees are also screened for security reasons, by both the U.S. military and the Department of Homeland Security. So far, 52 people have required additional screening and were then cleared.

Wolters said he expects the pace of arriving refugees at these bases to remain high as the evacuation continues.

“I believe the flow that we are going to embrace in the next 24 to 48 hours will be the flow that we can expect to see for the next several days,” Wolters said. “So, we are building to what I would say is a plateau that we are very, very close to getting to. And my sense is, obviously, as far as the machine is concerned, from what we get from the Middle East to here in Europe, we’re ready, willing, and able to accommodate that flow.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a separate Aug. 25 briefing, said his department estimates there were as many as 6,000 American citizens in Afghanistan who wanted to leave. Within the past 10 days, about 4,500 of them have left.

“For the remaining roughly 1,000 contacts we’ve had, who may be Americans seeking to leave Afghanistan, we’re aggressively reaching out to them, multiple times per day, through multiple channels of communication—phone, email, text messaging—to determine whether they still want to leave and get the most up-to-date information and instruction to them … on how to do so,” Blinken said. “Some may no longer be in the country, some may have claimed to be Americans but turn out not to be, some may choose to stay. We’ll continue to try to identify the status and plans of these people in the coming days.”

As the security situation in Kabul continues to deteriorate, U.S. commanders have directed additional missions outside the wire of HKIA to bring in people. This included a helicopter flight late Aug. 24 into Kabul to pick up “less than 20” individuals and fly them to the airport, Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said.

Retired Lt. Gen. Robert Springer, Air Force Memorial Foundation Director, Dies

Retired Lt. Gen. Robert Springer, Air Force Memorial Foundation Director, Dies

Aug. 25, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Retired Lt. Gen. Robert D. Springer, former vice commander of Military Airlift Command and a driving force in the creation of the United States Air Force Memorial, died Aug. 19 at the age of 88.

Springer entered the Air Force in 1952. He earned navigator wings and served in B-29s before becoming a pilot in 1958, assigned initially to KC-97 tankers. He later switched to C-130s and served in Southeast Asia from 1965-1966, both as an intelligence officer and pilot. There he flew 72 combat missions, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star, among many other decorations.

Among his staff assignments and field commands in tactical airlift, he headed the Air Force Manpower and Personnel Center, commanded 21st Air Force at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., served as Air Force Inspector General, and in his last post was vice commander of MAC. He received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from George Washington University, in social science and international affairs, respectively. Springer retired in 1988.

After his retirement, Springer served as president of NovaLogic Systems from 1999-2007 and president of Bsone, Inc. from 1999 to 2013. He and his wife Bonnie Springer also worked closely with the Arnold Air Society, the ROTC-oriented branch of the Air Force Association, and Angel Flight (now Silver Wings), a sister organization focused on community service and aerospace education. He was also highly active in AFA, as president of the Aerospace Education Foundation from 1992-1994, and was a senior vice president of the Airlift/Tanker Association from 1989-1994.

In 1992, Springer was tapped by the AFA to serve as the first executive director of the Air Force Memorial Foundation, seeing the project through its origins and change of location and design to its present site and configuration. Springer recruited corporate leaders to lend their expertise, influence, and fundraising skills to the campaign, and formed alliances to pursue the project with other USAF-oriented organizations, such as the Air Force Sergeants Association.

“Bob led us through the Legislation, Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts, and a multitude of challenges confronting our mission,” said Thomas McKee, former chairman of the Board of AFA. The task was daunting, he said, because a legislative time limit allowed only seven years to raise funds and get construction underway.

The initial site of the memorial, near the Marine Corps Iwo Jima monument in Arlington, Va., was challenged by various local groups and the Marine Corps itself. Although the Foundation consistently won legal challenges to the planned location, Springer helped broker a deal in 2001 to secure a new and superior site overlooking the Pentagon, which drove a new design for the Memorial.

Springer worked with the Pei Cobb Freed architecture firm, and James Ingo Freed, who re-designed the Memorial for its new situation.

“The ‘Spires’ were immediately recognized as outstanding, and the right design for the right location,” McKee said. Springer helped AFA choose his successor, and was an honored guest at the Oct. 14, 2006 dedication of the memorial presided over by President George W. Bush; coincidentally, the 54th anniversary of Springer’s enlistment as an Airman Basic. He later served on the Air Force Memorial advisory committee as its chairman.

“Bob Springer literally got the Air Force Memorial off the ground, and soaring into the Washington, D.C. skyline,” said AFA President, retired Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright. “The memorial reminds us of the selfless courage and commitment of our Airmen, Guardians, and their families, and Bob’s commitment and devotion was essential in making this iconic landmark a reality.”

Austin Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine, Directs Secretaries to Set ‘Ambitious Timelines’

Austin Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine, Directs Secretaries to Set ‘Ambitious Timelines’

Aug. 25, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III officially mandated the COVID-19 vaccine for the military, sending a memo announcing the news Aug. 24, a day after the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech version of the shot.

However, Austin’s memo does not establish a deadline by which service members will have to be fully vaccinated, instead leaving it to the Secretaries of the military departments to set “ambitious timelines for implementation.”

Air Force Magazine has reached out to the Department of the Air Force seeking clarification on its timeline. In a statement released on social media, newly installed Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the department is “in lockstep” with Austin’s order.

“This is about protecting our Airmen, Guardians, and the people they love from this deadly disease, and keeping ourselves and our teammates ready to defend the Nation,” Kendall added.

Austin’s formal announcement was widely expected after the FDA’s approval came down Aug. 23. Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said at the time that DOD was “prepared to issue updated guidance, requiring all service members to be vaccinated.” 

Austin had already said Aug. 9 that he would either make the vaccine mandatory when it received FDA approval or seek a waiver from President Joe Biden on Sept. 15 if it was still under Emergency Use Authorization, whichever came first.

The Pfizer-BioNTech shot is currently the only vaccine to receive full FDA approval, while other vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are currently under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). In his Aug. 24 memo, Austin wrote that only fully approved vaccines will be mandatory. Service members who have already received other vaccines with EUA approval will be considered fully vaccinated, as will those who receive those vaccines moving forward.

Austin’s pronouncement will affect “all members of the Armed Forces under DOD authority on Active duty or in the Ready Reserve, including the National Guard,” who are unvaccinated, a figure that likely stands at hundreds of thousands of troops.

The most recent Defense Department data from Aug. 18 show that more than 1.07 million active service members are already fully vaccinated, with nearly 250,000 more at least partially vaccinated. Those figures include all Active duty, Reserve, and National Guard components, putting the total percentage of the force that has been at least partially vaccinated in the range of 62 percent.

The percentage of Active duty troops who are vaccinated is higher. Kirby said Aug. 25 that 68 percent of Active duty troops are fully vaccinated, with 76 percent at least partially vaccinated.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass took to Facebook after the Aug. 25 announcement to once more urge Airmen to get vaccinated.

“At the end of the day, the COVID-19 vaccination mandate comes down to readiness,” Bass wrote. “We are an all-volunteer force that has to be ready to fly, fight, and win … AirPower anytime, anywhere.”

Bass also pointed out that the military already mandates vaccinations for a host of other diseases—at minimum nine and up to 17 based on the service member’s role and location.

Biden: Withdrawal On Pace to Finish by Aug. 31, But DOD Drawing Up Plans if Extension Needed

Biden: Withdrawal On Pace to Finish by Aug. 31, But DOD Drawing Up Plans if Extension Needed

Aug. 24, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

With a rapidly approaching deadline to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said the evacuation mission is on pace to finish by Aug. 31, though he has asked the Pentagon for contingency plans should that change.

U.S. and coalition efforts have evacuated approximately 70,700 people in 10 days as the Taliban has taken Kabul, with another 5,000 evacuated in the weeks prior to Aug. 14. There’s untold thousands more U.S. citizens, Afghan special immigrant visa applicants, and other vulnerable people awaiting a plane to leave.

Biden said the “sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops.”  

In just a 12-hour span, 19 U.S. military flights, including 18 C-17s and one C-130, flew out 6,400 evacuees. Earlier in the day, a Pentagon briefing outlined another 24-hour span, ending early Aug. 24, during which U.S. Air Force airlifters had dramatically increased their operations, again. In that timespan, 32 C-17s and five C-130s departed Kabul with 12,700 evacuees—well more than the 5,000-9,000 pace the Pentagon had predicted days before. Including charter flights and others, more than 21,000 people departed Kabul during that time period.

The bulk of the evacuees have been Afghans. The Pentagon said in a statement that approximately 4,000 U.S. passport holders and their families have been evacuated since the effort began. The State Department is expected to provide an update Aug. 25 with more detail on the number of Americans remaining.

Maj. Gen. William D. “Hank” Taylor, the Joint Staff’s deputy director for regional operations, said aircraft are departing the airport at a pace of one every 45 minutes, bringing people “out of harm’s way, … and on their journey to a better life.”

“We continue to make progress every day in getting Americans, as well as [special immigrant visa] applicants and vulnerable Afghans out, … and the vast, vast majority of these individuals are Afghans,” Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said in a briefing. “We are remaining committed to getting any and all Americans, that want to leave, to get them out.”

U.S. forces will need to pack up to leave in the days running up to the deadline, which would slow down and eventually halt evacuation operations. The Pentagon said Aug. 24 “several hundred” troops left Afghanistan. These included headquarters staff, maintenance, and “other enabling functions that were scheduled to leave and whose mission at the airport was complete. Their departure represents prudent and efficient force management. It will have no impact on the mission at hand.”

The Taliban said Aug. 24 it would pressure Afghans to not travel to the airport, in an effort to prevent educated and skilled people from leaving the country as the group tries to build its government, Al Jazeera reported.

Outside of Afghanistan, airlifts also continued, with private Civil Reserve Air Fleet aircraft taking passengers from interim staging bases such as Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, to follow-on facilities and ultimately to the United States. The sheer amount of people at these bases, especially in Qatar, has caused sanitation and other humanitarian problems.

“We’ll be the first to admit that there were conditions at Al Udeid [that] could have been better,” Kirby said. “They are improving now. I’m not going to stand up here and tell you that they’re perfect because they’re not. Because evacuees continue to flow into Qatar and there’s a lot on the ground right now.”

Within the same 24-hour period, four flights landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport with more than 1,000 passengers, who will go on to the four military bases identified to serve as temporary homes for the evacuees.

‘Space Junk’ is Greatest Shared Threat to Space Force and NASA, Says Administrator

‘Space Junk’ is Greatest Shared Threat to Space Force and NASA, Says Administrator

Aug. 24, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Colorado Springs, Colo.—Low-earth orbit is too crowded, and not only with satellites from around the world, but also with debris created by “irresponsible” spacefaring nations, NASA administrator Ben Nelson said when describing the civilian agency’s greatest shared threat with the Space Force.

“Space is a big place, but the biggest risk to all of our satellites right now is the space junk,” Nelson said at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“We’ve had irresponsible folks that have launched and blown up assets and there are thousands of pieces of space junk that are flying around at 17,500 miles an hour,” he said referring to a 2007 Chinese anti-satellite test of a ground-based missile. “They’re in that altitude range where our space station is, indeed where the Chinese space station is as well.”

Nelson declined to respond specifically to the threat that may now exist when military payloads share space with commercial and satellite payloads. He instead focused on areas of cooperation between the civilian and military space organizations.

“There are many things that we do together,” he said, describing deconfliction of launches at the newly renamed Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., where both commercial and military launches occur. “There’s a lot that the Space Force and NASA do to work together, all with the common goal of having [uninhibited] exploration of space.”

“Often, the Space Force, for launching defense payloads are using rockets that were developed for NASA,” he said, referring to the high demand for monthly Atlas V launches.

Bradley Cheetham, CEO of commercial venture Advanced Space, a small business highlighted by Nelson, told Air Force Magazine that sometimes Space Force and NASA are at the same table when he is discussing new capabilities.

“What we can do to help a commercial company optimize a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites for communications, that same capability can help the national security mission figure out how to deploy sensors for different coverages they want,” he said.

Cheetham said the NASA Capstone mission to test a planned lunar orbiter will provide valuable cislunar information for the Defense Department.

“That is the high ground of space, right?” he said. “So, when you’re above geo[stationary orbit], everything that is a traditional orbit that we use is below you.”

Advanced Space has information sharing agreements with Space Force, and he has thus far noticed fluid coordination among civilian and military space.

As for where the Space Force-NASA relationship will go in the coming years, Nelson said it’s anybody’s guess.

“The Space Force is evolving,” he said. “So just give it some time and see how it evolves.”

B-2s from Whiteman Deploy to Iceland for Bomber Task Force

B-2s from Whiteman Deploy to Iceland for Bomber Task Force

Aug. 24, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

A trio of B-2s from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., arrived in Iceland on Aug. 24, ahead of a Bomber Task Force mission in which they will conduct training across Europe and Africa.

The bombers and their crews, from the 509th Bomb Wing, will integrate with NATO allies and regional partners during their deployment.

“Regularly cooperating bomber activities with allies and partners helps us better address challenges in today’s complex global security environment,” said Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa commander, in a press release. “Strong partnerships are essential to our ability to deter, defend, and win.”

The deployment will also help crews with theater familiarity to enhance readiness and provide necessary training.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, all personnel involved in the mission were screened before departure and entered a period of quarantine after arrival.

The concept of deploying bombers to new locations as part of task forces as opposed to a continuous presence outside the U.S. was first introduced in April 2020 and was championed by then-Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy M. Ray.

In February, Ray said the Bomber Task Forces had increased morale and readiness, provided new training opportunities, and strengthened partnerships while projecting the Air Force’s global reach and power. At the time, he said the service was planning on “expanding beyond the normal” locations like Fairford, U.K.; Diego Garcia; Moron, Spain; and Guam.

While Ray retired in July and was replaced by Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, BTFs have taken place across the globe as of late. One mission to Orland Air Force Station, Norway, in particular was a first, with B-1Bs from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, conducting several training missions in the Arctic region. B-2s from Whiteman were also deployed in March to Lajes Field, Portugal, in the Azores and flew several training missions with the B-1Bs in Norway, as well as Norwegian F-35s from Iceland.

Posted in Air
Don’t Try to Fix Microelectronics Issues By Looking Backward, Experts Say

Don’t Try to Fix Microelectronics Issues By Looking Backward, Experts Say

Aug. 24, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

While it’s probably too late to fix the supply and trustworthiness of the current global microelectronics enterprise, there’s good reason to think the U.S., especially with some government investment, can regain its edge as a world chip supplier, experts said during a virtual Hudson Institute seminar Aug. 23.

There is a world shortage of microprocessor—”chips”—leading to supply delays for everything from cars to weapon systems, and many of these devices are afflicted by insecure features making them vulnerable to manipulation. The Pentagon is concerned that these vulnerabilities could be exploited by an adversary, either for espionage or to render them inoperative in combat.

“What we need, honestly, is a goal,” set by American policymakers about how the U.S. can remain the leader in the next generation of chip design and manufacture, said Victoria Coleman, Air Force chief scientist. The U.S. is poised to exploit “leap ahead” technologies in “fabrics, … materials, … and devices,” and targeted, “mindful” government investment can help set the stage for re-establishing the U.S. as the world leader in this area, she said.

“It’s also about creating a framework that can take those investments, prove them out, scale them, and then build sustainable business models around them,” Clarke said. It may require changes to regulation, government investment, or joint government/private investment.

“Policymakers have a lot of tools in the toolkit” to do this, she said, but it’s important to set goals so “we know … we’ve won.” However, due to the cost of labor, “it’s not possible to pull us out of the hole that we find ourselves in today with respect to leading-edge manufacturing of semiconductors,” she added.

Jay Goldberg, chief executive officer of D2D advisory, said when it comes to manufacturing and the current U.S, dependence on global chip supply networks, “that battle’s over.”

“Let’s look to the future,” he said. While China has done an excellent job revving up its design capacity, its efforts at production are focused on obsolescing generations of chips.

“China has done a pretty good job of incentivizing their industry to work together,” he said, “but they’re really building something for the last century. Just like Stalin in the ‘50s built railroads and hydroelectric dams, … the best 19th century economy in the 20th century.”

The U.S. doesn’t need to “invest in design, there’s all kinds of new fields coming up … That’s where we should focus. That’s where we’ve done well in the past and we’ll continue to do well in the future,” Goldberg said.

Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute, who co-authored a recent paper on the topic, “Regaining the Digital Advantage,” said the U.S. is best suited to the design and packaging aspects of the microelectronics enterprise; less so in manufacture because of the labor cost differential with Asia.

“How do we make sure we’re able to support the demands of future customers? You’ve got to be positioned in the parts of the supply chain,” he said. “Fabrication may not change that much between current generation chips and fifth-generation chips. But designs will change dramatically; packaging could change dramatically” because new chips or “triplets” will have new and potentially “heterogeneous” designs. The U.S. will be “well positioned” because it can “add value for the future, even if it’s not well positioned to support current demand” due to the low level of fabrication capacity in the U.S.

Still, government could “provide incentives to close that cost differential and make U.S. chips competitive,” he said.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Defense Supply Chain Task Force, said future technologies such as “system on a chip, … heterogeneous or … disaggregated chip architecture,” will create opportunities to “bring … home” microelectronics dominance, and these are the areas government may seek to invest in. She advocated for more “pure science” research and development, along the model of Bell Labs in the 1950s and 1960s.     

There are many years of work to be done fixing “vulnerabilities” in existing chips; some that were created inadvertently to get things to work, and some “nefarious,” created by overseas manufacturers with “evil intent,” Clarke said.

“We have our work cut out for us,” in that regard, she said, noting she is “very excited” about “zero trust” architecture design because “there will continue to be both intentional and non-intentional flaws in devices … Let’s build them in such a way that they’re actually resilient … When [faults] hit us, we can contain the infection, … so that it doesn’t spread to the whole system, so we can fail safely … It’s about how you build systematic resilience.”

US Space Command Achieves Initial Operational Capability

US Space Command Achieves Initial Operational Capability

Aug. 24, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—U.S. Space Command boss Army Gen. James H. Dickinson declared the command’s initial operational capability in a speech at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Aug. 24.

IOC status means the Defense Department’s 11th combatant command has “matured to the point where we have strategic effects,” said Dickinson in a speech just five days shy of the second anniversary of the command’s re-establishment. Unlike IOC for a piece of equipment, Dickinson called the command’s institutional IOC “more strategically focused.”

“How much of an effect can we now have strategically?” he said. “How much have we moved the needle? Well, IOC is essentially a pivot point, or an inflection point. … It’s where we can credibly claim to be organized and effective for employing our enduring, no-fail supporting functions to the joint force, as we have for many years, and our supportive warfighting functions as well.”

He listed some of the milestones that led up to IOC, including:

  • Establishing Space Command’s service components from the Defense Department’s five military branches, including Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Marine Forces Space, Naval Space Command, 1st Air Force, and Space Force’s Space Operations Command; along with two functional components: Combined Forces Space Component Command and Joint Task Force Space Defense.
  • Becoming a party to more than 100 data-sharing agreements with allies, other U.S. government agencies, and commercial partners that improve space domain awareness among other benefits.
  • Establishing command and control capabilities, of which Dickinson said, “we continue to refine and grow those capabilities.”
  • Taking part in more than 24 Tier 1 wargames and exercises. “These are national, governmental-wide, and combatant-wide level events that test our collective response to real-world contingencies,” Dickinson said.
  • Calling out competitors for “actions contrary to peaceful operations in the space domain.”

What comes next, Dickinson said, is “a compelling and extremely important effort to build the future of the U.S. Space Command.”

He previewed a soon-to-be-released strategy document the command will publish, which he characterized as building on his earlier “commander’s strategic vision” and as a “roadmap for what comes next.”

“It describes how in coordination with allies and partners, U.S. Space Command will achieve and maintain space superiority when, where, and for how long we need it,” including efforts to counter “competitor influence” and to “build and maintain strategic advantages, strengthen our critical relationships, and attract new partners,” Dickinson said.   

He didn’t bring up Space Command’s future home, however. Its provisional headquarters is Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. The Department of the Air Force selected Redstone Arsenal, Ala., for the permanent headquarters, but both the Defense Department Office of Inspector General and Congress’ Government Accountability office are investigating the search process that led to that decision.