The United States Space Force is the space warfare service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services.
The sixth and youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, it was the first branch of the military established since the formation of the independent U.S. Air Force in 1947.
The Air Force Space Command was formed September 1, 1982 and they were responsible for space warfare operations.
The United States Space Force is organized a military brand within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense. It is headed by the Secretary of the Airforce who reports to the Secretary of Defense, and is appointed by the president with Senate confirmation.
What Is The Mission Of The United States Space Force?
The main mission of the U.S. Space Force is to organize, train, and equip space forces in order to protect the United States and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force.
Basically, they’re responsible for developing military space professionals, acquiring militarized space systems, establishing space laws, and organizing space forces.
The Space Force is specifically responsible for organizing, training, and equipping forces for the following mission sets:
- space superiority;
- space domain awareness (military, civil, and commercial);
- offensive and defensive space control;
- command and control of space forces and satellite operations;
- space support to operations (e.g., satellite communications);
- space service support (e.g., space lift and space range operations for military, civil, and commercial operators);
- space support to nuclear command, control, communications, and nuclear detonation detection; and
- missile warning and space support to missile defense operations.
What Is The Function & Duty Of The United States Space Force?
The United States Space Force act was created to provide freedom of operation for the United States in, from, and to space. While also providing prompt and sustained space operations.
Their duties include protecting the interests of the United States in space, deterring aggression in, from, and to space, and conducting various space operations.
What Is The Rank Structure Of Space Force?
There is currently no chosen (or permanent) rank structure of the U.S. Space Force. The current grade and rank is carried over from the Air Force.
However, Space Force recently announced 16 integral specialties within its’ branch.
Officer specialties include:
- 13S – Space Operations Officer
- 14N – Intelligence Officer
- 17D – Cyberspace Operations Officer
- 17S – Cyber Warfare Operations Officer
- 62E – Developmental Engineer
- 62S – Materiel Leader
- 63A – Acquisition Manager
- 63G – Senior Materiel Leader-Lower Echelon
- 63S – Materiel Leader
Enlisted specialties include:
- 1C6 – Space Systems Operations specialist
- 1N0 – All Source Intelligence Analyst
- 1N1 – Geospatial Intelligence Analyst
- 1N2 – Signals Intelligence Analyst
- 1N4 – Fusion Analyst
- 3D0 – Cyberspace Operations specialist
- 3D1 – Cyberspace Systems specialist
What Do The United States Space Force Uniforms Look Like?
Many people speculated about what the uniforms were going to look like, but in the end, they turned out like this (see picture below).
What Does The United States Space Force Flag Look Like?
The Defense leaders presented the flag of the Space Force to President Donald J. Trump on May 15, 2020 in the Oval Office.
The flag of the newly created armed service will hang alongside those of the other military services at the White House.
The creation of the Space Force was necessary because adversaries have “weaponized” space, he said. Space is a warfighting domain.
“The United States is now doing what it needs to do to protect our assets in space and ensure that space remains the heavens by which we not only protect America, but we sustain our economy, we sustain our commercial capabilities, we sustain Americans’ way of life,” Esper said.
“The United States has been a spacefaring nation for decades.”
Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper
The official flag of the Space Force is derived from key and central elements of the seal of the United States Space Force.
Who Is Leading The United States Space Force?
Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond is the commander of the U.S. Space Command and the nation’s first chief of space operations.
General Raymond oversees 16,000 space professionals assigned to the Space Force, and those men and women head to work every day focusing on providing space capabilities for the United States and for the world.
Raymond said, “We’re proud of this flag. We’re proud to have an opportunity to present it to you here for display in the White House.”
Do We Really Need The Space Force?
The space domain is vulnerable, and space-based equipment needs to be defended and toughened. To protect ourselves from foreign (alien) and domestic (Earth) threats.
Building a force to help protect assets in space, and deter aggressive action in space is more than essential. As other nations begin their space journey, there will need to be laws in place to govern those who rise above nations.
