DOD to Study Feasibility of Having a Separate Space National Guard

Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, is working with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman to explore the possibility of the U.S. Space Force having its own National Guard unit.

The 2024 defense authorization bill mandates the Department of Defense to carry out a study on the feasibility of transferring all Air National Guard space functions to the Space Force. It aims to better understand three options: maintaining the current model under the Air National Guard, transferring all the National Guard space functions to the Space Force and setting up a new National Guard component of the Space Force.

The study will guide Congress in deciding on the future of a separate Space National Guard, Federal News Network reported.

The creation of a reserve component for the Space Force has been in discussion for years. In 2022, a group of senators led by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., proposed a separate Space National Guard as they believed it would address funding barriers between the U.S. Air Force and the Space Force, improving mobilization and inspection processes.