Space Force Takes Over All Military Satellite Communications
Published August 15, 2022
Editor's Note: The following story has been updated to clarify that many of the 500 Army personnel who have been transferred to the Space Force will remain at their current duty stations but answer to the new service.
The Army transferred some of its satellite operations to the Space Force on Monday, marking the latest move to reorganize and grow the youngest military branch.
In addition to control of the communication satellites, 500 people will be transferred from the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, based in Huntsville, Alabama, and will now answer to Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado as part of the expansion.
"This historic transfer from the Army to the Space Force will mark the first time all Department of Defense military satellite communication functions have been consolidated under a single military service," the Space Force wrote in a press release.
The Army has also transferred roughly $78 million of its budget to the Space Force for 2022 to help expand the service's infrastructure.
Lt. Gen. Bradley Chance Saltzman, the Space Force's current deputy chief of operations who has been nominated by President Joe Biden as the next leader of the service, said in a statement last year that consolidating the military's satellites is a necessity.
"We need to create this unity of effort around our space missions to ensure we're up to those challenges that we face, because the space domain has rapidly become far more congested, and far more contested than … when I was a lieutenant or a captain operating space capabilities," Saltzman said.
Some of the new Army transfers to Space Force came from the 53rd Signal Battalion, which has an illustrious history participating in several noteworthy military campaigns including France, Italy and Tunisia during World War II; counteroffensives during the Vietnam War; and supporting Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and New Dawn in the Middle East.
More: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/08/15/space-force-takes-over-all-military-satellite-communications.html