Space Force activates
first field command
By Lynn Kirby, Space Force
Public Affairs / Published October 21, 2020
In an activation ceremony
at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, today,
Chief of Space Operations Gen. John “Jay”
Raymond established Space Operations Command,
the U.S. Space Force’s first of three field
commands.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting,
who promoted earlier in the day, assumed command
of the new unit, which is mostly formed from the
former Air Force units 14th Air Force and Air
Force Space Command.
“As the primary force
provider for United States Space Command, you
are charged to lead space operations out of this
pivot-point, to accelerate the transformation
necessary to compete, deter and win a modern
conflict, to prepare for war that either begins
or extends into space,” Raymond said. “I’m
convinced a war in space will be fought at high
speeds and over great distances. We must be fast
and agile, and we must focus on our primary
mission, and that’s to deter that conflict from
happening.”
Raymond and Whiting both
talked about the decades of heritage inherited
by this new organization and its role in
preparing warfighters for the space domain.
“Let’s be clear: it’s the
decades of faithful, dedicated, and unparalleled
space operations that you, and those who have
come before you, have provided which are the
foundation of all our new organizations – the
new armed service and combatant command alike,”
Whiting said. “Our charter is to focus
exclusively on generating, presenting, and
sustaining combat-ready space forces – and those
forces will include intelligence, cyber, space
operations, and combat support elements. We are
structured explicitly for the function of
providing space warfighting capability.”
With the stand-up of SpOC,
the Air Force unit named Space Operations
Command at Vandenberg AFB, California, was
redesignated as SpOC West, which retains its
mission of conducting, integrating, and
assessing global space operations in order to
deliver combat-relevant space capabilities to
combatant commanders, coalition partners, the
joint force, and the nation.
“The first
step in the organizational changes you are about
to witness in the redesignation and assumption
of command, is to recognize the inactivation of
what we know today as Space Operations Command,
Vandenberg AFB, the former 14th Air Force, as it
transitions to Space Operations Command West,”
said Col. Mark Sorapuru, the narrator for the
ceremony.
During the ceremony, Maj.
Gen. John Shaw, commander of the Air Force’s
SpOC and Combined Forces Space Component
Command, and Chief Master Sgt. John Bentivegna,
command chief of the Air Force’s SpOC, furled
and cased the former 14th Air Force command
flag.
“This is an appropriate
time to acknowledge that what we are doing is
significant. It’s history in the making today,”
Raymond said. “This ceremony is about you the
Space Professionals who under the Air Force
Space Command and 14th Air Force flags, built
the world’s best national security space
enterprise.”
The 14AF was established
March 10, 1943, and conducted fighter and bomber
operations over occupied Chinese territory in
the China-Burma-India Theater during World War
II. It is credited with destroying more than
2300 enemy aircraft during the war. After
standing down in 1960, it was reactivated as
14th Aerospace Force in 1968 to detect foreign
missile launches and track objects in space. It
moved to Vandenberg and joined then Air Force
Space Command in 1993.
“With the creation of the
United States Space Force, the 14 AF was
re-designated Space Operations Command,”
Sorapuru said. “Now, its colors are furled, and
the illustrious aviation lineage and honors of
this organization are returned to the United
States Air Force.
Following the furling of
the 14AF flag, Raymond and Chief Master Sgt.
Roger A. Towberman, senior enlisted advisor,
U.S. Space Force, took the stage to furl the Air
Force Space Command flag as the last command
team to lead that organization.
AFSPC was redesignated as
USSF Dec. 20, 2019, when the National Defense
Authorization Act was signed into law, thereby
creating the new service. AFSPC was established
Sept. 1, 1982, to serve as the operational
command to oversee the Air Force’s efforts in
space.
“Over the ensuing years,
Air Force Space Command focused on consolidating
and organizing space capabilities to improve
operations,” said Sorapuru. “Its first major
test came in 1990-1991, when the command
provided space capabilities to the warfighter
during Operation Desert Storm, in what many have
called the First Space War.”
AFSPC continued to focus on
improving space support to the warfighter
through the 90s through the creation of the USSF
and being redesignated as USSF. Now it is being
redesignated once again to meet the needs of the
nation to deliver space capabilities to the
joint force.
“To the hundreds of
thousands of men and women who have served in
Air Force Space Command and to the officers who
have commanded that prestigious organization …
rest assured that the history and heritage of
Air Force Space Command will live on in the
Space Operations Command,” Sorapuru said.
After retiring the two Air
Force units, the field command SpOC was
officially activated, and Whiting stepped into
his new positon as commander. “Sir, I assume
command of Space Operations Command,” Whiting
said to Raymond.
“Even as we grapple with
the extraordinary challenges brought by the
establishment of our new Service, the United
States Space Force, and our new Field Command,
Space Operations Command, you can always find
grounding in this three-part focus,” Whiting
said. “No matter what changes we encounter, our
attention will be laser-locked on our unit, our
mission, and our calling.”
The ceremony concluded with
unveiling the SpOC emblem, and Bentivegna and
lower echelon command teams rendering salutes to
report for duty.
The garrison and delta
mission commands established in July now report
to SpOC.