Space Force Creates Special Operations Command as Its Military Role Expands

The last time I reported on the U.S. Space Force (USSF), I noted that President Trump’s creation of this military branch has proved valuable during recent important operations, despite the skepticism and ridicule it initially received.

During Operation Epic Fury, Space Force satellites reportedly detected and tracked Iranian ballistic-missile launches, supporting early warnings, interceptions, targeting, and battle-damage assessments. Space Force personnel also provided satellite communications, navigation, geolocation, and missile-warning capabilities during Operation Midnight Hammer, demonstrating the branch’s growing importance to U.S. military operations.

Now Space Force is getting its own “Special Operations” team.

The Space Force activated a command this month to work with U.S. Special Operations Command to formalize the space capabilities already integrated into the missions of the military’s special operators. The service scheduled a ceremony for Nov. 2 at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida to mark the new Space Forces Special Operations component command within Special Operations Command. Col. Peter Norsky will lead the headquarters.

The Space Force field command institutionalizes how the military’s newest service branch organizes, trains, equips and presents forces for the special operations enterprise, placing it alongside U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Naval Special Warfare Command, Air Force Special Operations Command and Marine Forces Special Operations Command. The move “marks another milestone” in the Pentagon’s ongoing effort to make sure that “space effects are fully operationalized across every domain of modern warfighting,” the Space Force said Wednesday in a statement....