US Space Force Planning for New Component in the Middle East

US Space Force Planning for New Component in the Middle East

Given the horrendous developments in Afghanistan, it is interesting the US Space Force leaders are hashing out a plan to create a new group under U.S. Central Command to coordinate what military space assets to use in the Middle East. The latest military branch hopes to have an organization that complements the Air Force’s version in the region.

That unit, tentatively known as Space Forces Central Command, could also serve as a blueprint for creating sister groups around the globe — for example, Pacific Space Forces, U.S. Space Forces in Europe and Space Forces Africa, Space Forces Northern in North America, and Space Forces Southern in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Lt. Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force’s operations boss in the Pentagon, is leading the planning effort from Washington. Col. Anthony Mastalir, who left Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, for Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar earlier this summer, is helping roll out Saltzman’s vision on the ground in the Middle East.

“If you think that the Space Force service component is … stripping out capability from the air component, I will tell you, that’s not my thought process,” Saltzman said at an Aug. 11 event hosted by the Air Force Association. “It’s to add focus, it’s to add a subordinate commander that, that combatant commander can point to and say, ‘This is your responsibility.’”

While it is probably wise to have strategic and intelligence assets in the area, perhaps Space Force’s top brass can focus on the mission and not “White Rage” or “Critical Race Theory.” That way, Space Force won’t be in the position to have to bomb its assets in the event the base needs to close quickly.

🇦🇫 · #Afganistan situation report
0.41 Central European Summer Time

2 USAF B-52 aircraft in the air, bound for #Afghanistan. Their mission is to bomb the airports where planes and helicopters are being captured by the #Taliban. pic.twitter.com/5DSXutIWi6

— Iván Esteve (@EsteveGirbes01) August 14, 2021

This week, Space Force has established Space Systems Command, the second of three field commands.

The ceremony to establish the Space Systems Command was held at Los Angeles Air Force Base in California, where the command is based, on Friday with Lt. Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, who received his third star at a promotion ceremony earlier in the day, assuming command.

The SSC ceremony follows the first field command in the Space Force, Space Operations Command, or SpOC, being established last October and led by Gen. Jay Raymond.

The third command, Space Training and Readiness Command, or STARCOM, requires a two-star general. The branch has not announced its eventual location, though a temporary command has been set up at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado and it is expected to be established later this year.

Finally, looking for UFOs will not be a priority for this branch.

The Pentagon, nudged by the Senate, is finally taking UFOs seriously. And as it decides where to house its “unidentified aerial phenomena” task force, currently led by the Navy, the Pentagon is considering the newly created U.S. Space Force. The Space Force “isn’t over the moon about the idea,” Politico report. ”

Space Force leaders are still struggling to rebrand an organization that has been lampooned since before its birth,” starting with what appeared to be an off-the-cuff comment by former President Donald Trump. Searching for alien life and technology may not lend it self to developing a reputation as a serious military organization.

“They really are sensitive to that,” a former intelligence official who is advising the military in the planning told Politico. “They want people to take them seriously. They don’t want to do anything that is embarrassing.”

Perhaps the Pentagon should take a cue from Space Force and rethink its mission priorities. It might be helpful.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.