Modern warfare relies heavily on space-based technologies, and the US Army is making moves to tightly integrate those capabilities with the rest of its military might.
The Army established the Space Operations Branch last week to consolidate its broad space capabilities into the hands of a smaller force of specifically trained soldiers.
“Space integration is absolutely critical,” Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, commanding general of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, said in a statement.
The new branch, he added, “provides the Army with the professional structure to deliver space-based effects directly to our soldiers and units at the tactical edge, enabling commanders to fight and win in a contested, multidomain environment.”
Why now: The announcement comes after the Army spent years leveling-up its space-capabilities, but those decisions have landed the Army in a disjointed setup.
The Army says it relies on “hundreds of thousands of space-enabled systems,” that are currently spread broadly, even though it is the “largest user of space capabilities” in the joint force.
The establishment of a Space Operations Branch is intended to relieve this “operational pressure,” on the Air Defense Artillery, Signal Corps, and Military Intelligence Corps, which had previously supplied soldiers on temporary missions requiring use of space assets.
In January, the Army put out the call for Army soldiers to be trained as Tactical Space Operations Specialists (Army acronym: 40D MOS), and last week’s announcement places those new soldiers in a branch all of their own.
The things they carry: The new Space Operations branch will be capable of staffing and deploying satcom and missile-warning systems to help soldiers use space assets for terrestrial missions.
Critically, these soldiers should expect to be embedded in tactical forces near the front lines. In January, Sgt. Maj. John Foley (Ret.), who was then leading US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said these new soldiers should expect to “operate in deep-enemy and extended-deep areas,” to provide space-based capabilities within teams fighting overseas.
The Space Operations Branch will consist of Army Space Operations Officers and an initial force of 1,000 enlisted 40D MOS soldiers. The Army expects the group could grow to 1,500 by 2032.
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