At a ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado last week, Brig. Gen. Shawn N. Bratton, Air National Guard assumed its command.

“Today marks a significant milestone for the U.S. Space Force,” said overall Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. ‘Jay’ Raymond. “The stand-up of STARCOM is a critical step in aligning education, training, and test and evaluation units under one command, in support of the nation’s newest military Service. With our three field commands and commanders now in place, we continue to transition from inventing the force to integrating it, with a targeted focus on developing combat-ready space forces and delivering critical space warfighting capabilities to joint and coalition forces.”

The command’s five stated goals are: “build the USSF training enterprise”, “develop a domain-focused education enterprise”, “develop space doctrine and tactics”, “build the test and range infrastructure”, and “develop and reinforce Space Force culture”.

“As space capabilities have evolved over the decades from novelty to nicety to necessity, so has the need to have a military service focused on the space domain that is supported by a command dedicated to developing space professionals,” said Bratton. “The bottom line is that STARCOM will prepare every Guardian to prevail in conflict through innovative warfighting capabilities and tactics that keep USSF ahead of any emerging threat.”

STARCOM deltas

During the ceremony, the STARCOM deltas (squadrons focused on the specific goals mentioned) were also activated. The five subordinate deltas – so-called O-6 commands – are:

– Space Delta 1 – Training: provides initial skills training, specialized warfighter follow-on training, and advanced training events and courses in order to prepare USSF forces, and designated joint and allied partners, to prevail in a contested, degraded, operationally-limited, all-domain environment.

– Space Delta 10 – Doctrine and Wargaming: develops USSF doctrine and tactics, conducts the USSF Lessons Learned Program, and executes and supports wargames in order to posture USSF forces, and designated joint and allied partners, to prevail in a CDO, all-domain environment.

– Space Delta 11 – Range and Aggressor: delivers realistic, threat-informed test and training environments through the provision of live, virtual, and constructive range and combat replication capability in order to prepare USSF, joint, and allied forces to prevail in a CDO environment.

– Space Delta 12 – Test and Evaluation: prepares USSF forces to prevail in a contested, degraded, and operationally limited environment through the independent test and evaluation of USSF capabilities and delivery of timely, accurate, and expert information in support of weapon system acquisition, operational acceptance, and readiness decisions.

– Space Delta 13 – Education: delivers institutional developmental education, develops U.S. Space Force officer accessions and executes advanced education programs in order to prepare USSF forces and designated joint and allied partners to prevail in a CDO, all-domain environment.

Delta 1 will be located at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The locations for STARCOM headquarters and all the other deltas will be determined following the Department of the Air Force’s Strategic Basing Process.

More information about the structure of STARCOM, and its mission, and can be found at www.starcom.spaceforce.mil.

Image: Brig. Gen. Shawn N. Bratton, first commander of the newly-activated Space Training and Readiness Command, receives his first salute as commander from space delta commanders and senior enlisted advisors