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Updated January 8, 2021
Defense Primer: The United States Space Force
On December 20, 2019, the United States Space Force
support, civilian personnel management, IT support, and
(USSF) became the sixth branch of the Armed Forces. The
financial management.
Space Force was established within the Department of the
Air Force (DAF) with the enactment of the FY2020
Space Force Stand-Up
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The
The FY2020 NDAA redesignated Air Force Space
Secretary of the Air Force is responsible for organizing,
Command (AFSPC), located at Peterson Air Force Base,
training, and equipping the Space Force and the United
CO, as the U.S. Space Force with Title 10 authorization.
States Air Force (USAF), two separate and distinct military
Subsequently, an estimated 16,000 military and civilian
uniformed services (see Figure 1). The current Chief of
personnel assigned to the former AFSPC were reassigned to
Space Operations (CSO) is General John W. “Jay”
the Space Force. The Air Force personnel who were
Raymond, who serves as the principal uniformed advisor
reassigned to the Space Force and are in space-related
for all space activities to the Secretary of the Air Force.
positions are to transfer into the new service and become
Space Force service members over the first 18 months.
Figure 1. Space Force Within DOD and DAF
DOD’s future plans include consolidating all of the space
missions currently residing across all the Armed Forces and
placing them within the Space Force.
Mission
The U.S. Space Force organizes, trains, and equips space
forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in space
and to provide space capabilities to the joint force. Its
responsibilities include “developing military space
professionals, acquiring military space systems, maturing
the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space
forces to present to our Combatant Commands.” According
to DOD, the Space Force will be lean, agile, and mission-
focused in order to remove the traditional layers of
bureaucracy. Some of the Space Force missions include
Space Superiority; Space Domain Awareness (military,
civil, and commercial); Offense and Defensive Space
Control; Command and Control of Space Forces & Satellite
Operations; Space Support Nuclear Command, Control,
Communications; and Missile Warning/Defense
Source: Comprehensive Plan on the Organizational Structure of
Operations.
USSF (Department of the Air Force, report to congressional
committees).
Space Force Organization
The Office of the Chief of Space Operations and the Space
Overview
Force Headquarters are located at the Pentagon. According
to the Space Force, “t
The FY2020 NDAA assigned the Space Force the
his staff will focus on establishing a
following duties: (1) protect the interests of the United
fully-functioning headquarters; preparing to execute the full
States in space; (2) deter aggression in, from, and to space;
scope of its organize, train, and equip responsibilities; and,
and (3) conduct space operations. The military space forces
in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force, developing a
of the United States provide freedom of operation in, from,
detailed plan to transfer forces into the U.S. Space Force.”
and to the space domain. This includes both combat and
To pursue the military services goal of being lean, agile,
space-focused combat support functions intended to enable
and mission-focused and to remove the traditional layers of
the United States to promptly conduct offensive and
bureaucracy, the Space Force created a command hierarchy
defensive space operations to protect U.S. and allied
(see Figure 2) that consists of three levels: Field
interests in all war-fighting domains.
Commands are led by a three-star general officer; Deltas,
by a Colonel; and Squadrons, by field grade officers. The
Except for functions unique to the space domain, in order to
career tracks within the Space Force include space-specific
reduce cost and avoid duplication, the Space Force relies on
operations, intelligence, engineering, acquisition, science,
the Air Force for approximately 75% of the foundational
and cyber/communications.
and infrastructure support for the Space Force. Some of
these support functions include logistics, base operating
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Defense Primer: The United States Space Force
Figure 2. Space Force Organizational Structure
The National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program
would provide launch services for the Space Force, Air
Force, Navy, the National Reconnaissance Office
(NRO), Space Development Agency (SDA), and many
other government agencies. DOD is currently
developing two or more commercially viable space
launch providers intended to meet U.S. NSSL
requirements.
The Global Positioning System III and Projects
would provide 24-hour-a-day, worldwide coverage,
including positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) for
military and civilian users. The mission of the GPS III is
to provide PNT coverage to all users around the globe.
The Space Based Overhead Persistent Infrared
(OPIR) Systems would aim to provide the initial
warning of ballistic missile attacks against the United
States homeland, as well as deployed, and allied forces.
The Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Projects
would provide SATCOM in three capability areas:
strategic aims to provide Nuclear Command, Control,
and Communications (NC3); protected is to enable
tactical communications in a contested environment;
Source: Figure created by CRS using data from U.S. Space Force.
and wideband/narrowband is to provide large amounts
FY2021—Initial Budget
of throughput in a less contested environment.
To provide space warfighting capabilities, the Space Force
Congressional Reports
requested total personnel end strength for FY2021 of 9,979
The FY2020 NDAA directed the Secretary of the Air Force
people:
and the Secretary of Defense to provide various reports and
6,434 military end strength in the active Space Force,
briefings to the congressional defense committees on the
and
establishment of the U.S. Space Force. The first report,
Comprehensive Plan for the Organizational Structure of the
3,545 in civilian full-time equivalents.
U.S. Space Force, delivered to Congress in February 2020,
The Space Force budget included resources to build and
provided a status update on implementation of the Space
staff its headquarters and field centers. The estimated
Force. As DOD and DAF continue to refine planning
personnel level within the headquarters and field centers is
efforts, updates are to be provided accordingly. The next
approximately 553 in FY2021, with an estimated end
major milestone outlining the Space Force organizational
strength of 1,800 by FY2025. The four major investment
design was due to Congress May 1, 2020. Since then, only a
areas identified in the defense budget request for space-
draft report was submitted to the defense committees.
based systems are shown in Table 1.
Relevant Laws
Table 1. FY2021 Space-Based Systems ($15.5 Billion)
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (P.L.
Type
FY2021
116-92)
Title 10, U.S. Code, Chapter 803 – Department of the Air
Technology Development
$8.9
Force
Satellites
$4.1
Support
$1.4
Launch
$1.1
CRS Products
CRS In Focus IF10547, Defense Primer: The United States Air
Total
$15.5
Force, by Jeremiah Gertler
Source: Program Acquisition Cost By Weapon System (Department of
CRS In Focus IF11326, Military Space Reform: FY2020 NDAA
Defense Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Request).
Legislative Proposals, by Stephen M. McCall
Major Space Acquisition Programs
The FY2021 budget request for space-based systems
included funding for the development and procurement of
space-based spacecraft, launch vehicles, space command
Stephen M. McCall, Analyst in Military Space, Missile
and control systems, and terrestrial satellite terminals and
Defense, and Defense Innovation
equipment. It also included Space Force startup costs. The
major acquisition programs include the following:
IF11495
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Defense Primer: The United States Space Force
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
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