Official Touts New Space Force Commands, Digital Direction

Kimberly Crider, the mobilization assistant to the Space Force's chief of space operations and a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker, highlighted what the Space Force has done to get itself operational.

Crider said the new military branch established nine O-6-level space deltas and stood up three new commands: Space Operations Command, Space Systems Command and Space Training and Readiness Command, Federal News Network reported.  

“Our acquisition capabilities will subsume up under this larger Space Systems Command and will also take on the launch enterprise for space. So getting capabilities into space will be part of Space Systems Command and there will be two launch deltas that will be aligned under that command,” Crider said. 

According to her, STARCOM will host education, readiness and test capabilities, including wargaming and exercises. The command will be responsible for all space professional military education and the overall space test ranges. 

Crider expressed pride in how much progress the Space Force has made while the services were largely forced into virtual workplaces, which she said might befit the Space Force because of the domain's reliance on data and technology access. 

She noted that Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations and a 2020 Wash100 awardee, tasked the service to view itself as a primarily digital service and build a digital workforce. 

“There will be intentions that have to be worked out in a very contested environment. Hence the reason that military space power has become a topic and is something that we talk about in our doctrine. Military space power has really been elevated to be considered a source and a conduit of national power,” she added.

Crider made her statements during her keynote at the online Air Force Information Technology & Cyberpower Education and Training Event.