ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Army surgeon and NASA astronaut Col. Andrew Morgan lifted off to space July 20 aboard the Soyuz MS-13 crew ship, exactly 50 years after Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon after Apollo 11’s historic landing there.

On his first journey into space since being chosen in 2013 to become an astronaut, Morgan flew with two veteran crewmates from Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. He is scheduled to be there until April 2020 while he works on hundreds of continuing experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and earth science.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the proposed U.S. Space Force would have 28,300 to 30,700 positions, with about 23,000 of the military and civilian personnel transferred from the existing military services to the new branch of the armed forces.

The one-time startup cost of the new military department would be as much as $3.2 billion, mostly for office facilities.

Most of the Army’s space-related missions, including its operations of wide- and narrowband global satellite communications, will eventually become part of the new U.S. Space Force, acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan told lawmakers.

The Army is taking big steps toward having critical new air and missile defense capabilities, with an eye on a collection of interconnected systems that provide scalable, mobile and revolutionary protection against current and future threats.

No single system will be able to accomplish what the Army and the nation need, the commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command said March 12 during a one-day event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. 

President Donald Trump has ordered establishment of the U.S. Space Command, a new combatant command responsible for space-related activities previously assigned to the U.S. Strategic Command.

This is expected to include some parts of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the U.S. Army Forces Strategic Command, but details have not been announced. A Dec. 18 presidential memorandum to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says a comprehensive list of authorities and responsibilities “will be included in the next update to the Unified Command Plan.”

Building a more lethal force is the Pentagon’s top priority, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said. “We have no room for complacency in any domain,” he said.

His remarks came as the Defense Department has elevated the U.S. Cyber Command to the status of a full combatant command and is taking the first steps toward creating the U.S. Space Force as a new and separate armed service. Outer space and cyberspace are “warfighting domains on par with air, land and sea,” he said.

The Trump administration has decided to move ahead with plans to create a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed services, Vice President Mike Pence announced Aug. 9 at a Pentagon press conference. “The Space Force is the next and natural evolution of American military strength,” he said.

The impact on the Army is not immediately clear because there are many decisions to be made, some requiring congressional approval. The Army Space and Missile Defense Command appears to have overlapping responsibilities with the proposed new branch.

The recent Space and the Network Symposium hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Greater Los Angeles Chapter in Huntington Beach, Calif., provided attendees with an expanded perspective into those increasingly dynamic domains.

Examples of how the Army uses space to expand support to warfighters included two programs underway at U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. 

Last week’s Space and the Network professional development forum hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Greater Los Angeles Chapter provided attendees with a unique glimpse into myriad cross-domain challenges, along with many of the broader Army activities underway to meet those challenges.

Among the keynote presentations was an address by Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, deputy commanding general, futures, and director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center.

The Army’s chief missile defense officer says potential adversaries are expanding missile and space offensive capabilities and offensive cyber capabilities.