U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) this week announced it is taking over missile defense responsibilities from U.S. Strategic Command, in accordance with a command plan approved by President Biden.
The 2022 Unified Command Plan (UCP), signed off on April 25, directs the transfer of the missile defense operations responsibilities.
“This transfer is the culmination of a comprehensive study on the roles, responsibilities and authorities associated with the Missile Defense enterprise and represents an alignment to the 2022 Missile Defense Review,” Army Gen. James Dickinson, SPACECOM commander, said in a statement,
“Integration of systems and fighting doctrine is critical to modern warfare. By bringing the three mission areas of missile warning, missile defense and space domain awareness under one command as the Global Sensor Manager, USSPACECOM can more effectively integrate and fuse the sensor data for rapid detection, characterization, tracking and dissemination to ensure theaters can defeat any threat,” he added.
STRATCOM had previously been responsible for missile defense since 2002.
The command said beyond planning support and analysis, SPACECOM will not be responsible for integrated asset management, warfighter involvement in capability development, network management and defense, mission-specific intelligence, and trans-regional missile defense joint training, education and exercise support, and security cooperation coordination.
As part of this change, STRATCOM’s missile defense component, the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense (JFCC IMD), is also set to transfer to SPACECOM.
DoD noted STRATCOM and NORAD will still continue to perform Integrated Threat Warning and Attack Assessment missions to watch for missile threats to the U.S.
STRATCOM Commander Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton said he supported the UCP change.
“I am confident that this UCP better supports our integrated deterrence framework in safeguarding our nation,” Cotton said in a statement.
The Department of the Air Force in January 2021 decided to move SPACECOM headquarters from its temporary locations at Peterson Space Force Base, Colo., to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala.
However, a May NBC News post based on anonymous sources and conjecture said some officials believe the White House is looking to stop the move, in part due to concerns about the state’s restrictive abortion law.
That led House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) to send a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to reaffirm the Redstone Arsenal choice (Defense Daily, May 23).
Last year, a Government Accountability Office report cast doubt on whether credible analysis determined where the permanent Space Command headquarters should be located (Defense Daily, June 8, 2022).
The report said the Trump administration’s plan to move the headquarters to Huntsville went against input from U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, the head of U.S. Space Command, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, and then-Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. John Hyten that remaining in Colorado would allow it to reach full operational capability as quickly as possible, the GAO said (Defense Daily, June 3).
A May 2022 Pentagon Inspector General report found the January 2021 basing decision was conducted properly, but it had sections that were heavily redacted (Defense daily, May 12, 2022).