table of organization and equipment

    This section provides the Table of Organization and Equipment, with supporting notes.

1. top level organization
2. Space Development Agency
3. Space Operations Force
4. Services and Support
5. Space Command
6. ranks

top level organization

    The Space Force will have four components: Space Development Agency, Space Operations Force, Services and Support, and Space Command.

    From Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018:

SPACE FORCE

President Trump directed the establishment of a Space Force to better protect U.S. vital interests in space. Like the other military branches, the Space Force will organize, train, and equip forces to protect national security interests in the physical domain of space. The Space Force will accelerate and unify the Department’s space efforts and enable the delivery of next-generation space capabilities faster than potential adversaries can evolve. The Space Force will grow the world’s most capable national security space workforce. These efforts set the foundation for growth, mission expansion, and service structure to meet man, train, and equip responsibilities.

Change
Establishing the Space Force will be multi-dimensional and phased. In this first phase, using existing authorities, the Department of Defense will establish several of the component parts of the Space Force. The second phase requires Congress to combine these components into the sixth branch of the Armed Forces. The Department of Defense is immediately pursuing four components:

• Space Development Agency – capabilities development and fielding,
• Space Operations Force – developing space leaders and joint space warfighters,
• Services and Support – leadership and support structures, and
• Space Command – developing Space Force warfighting operations to protect U.S. national interests.

First, DoD will establish a Space Development Agency to develop and field space capabilities at speed and scale. The Air Force has already begun to transform its Space and Missile Center (SMC). The Department will accelerate and extend this transformation to all services by creating a joint Space Development Agency.

Second, the Department will develop the Space Operations Force to support the Combatant Commands. These joint space warfighters will provide space expertise to combatant commanders and the Space Development Agency, and surge expertise in time of crisis to ensure that space capabilities are leveraged effectively in conflict.

Third, the Department will create the governance, services, and support functions of the Space Force. Many of these will require changes to U.S. law. The Department will build a legislative proposal for Congressional consideration as a part of the Fiscal Year 2020 budget cycle.

Fourth, the Department will create a U.S. Space Command, led by a four star general or flag officer, to lead the use of space assets in warfighting and accelerate integration of space capabilities into other warfighting forces. U.S. Space Command will be responsible for directing the employment of the Space Force.

—Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018

1. Space Development Agency
2. Space Operations Force
3. Services and Support
4. Space Command

Space Development Agency

    Space Development Agency

    From Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018:

SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

History demonstrates that strong technical competence and leadership, concentration of resources, and abeyance of bureaucracy produce exceptional results. Examples include General Bernard Schriever’s development of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Admiral Hyman Rickover’s development of the Navy’s nuclear enterprise, the development of missile defense through the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) and then the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and more recent models like the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).

Change
To achieve a similar breakthrough, the Department will:

• Identify opportunities to move from dependence on a few independent assets to a proliferated architecture enabled by lower-cost commercial space technology and access,
• Shift from an acquisition organization and mindset to a development organization focused on experimentation, prototyping, and accelerated fielding, and
• Change from a matrixed and overlapping structure to a concentrated and decoupled structure to generate speed.

The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (AFRCO) provides a model for the thinking, execution style, reporting structure, and innovation required for creating warfighting dominance. Similarly, the DoD Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) has delivered exceptional results in leveraging existing DoD technologies to rapidly field new capabilities. The Department will create a Space Development Agency with similar style and intent to achieve the above described change.

Some existing space acquisition programs may remain in current service organizations, which should aggressively pursue improved performance, while the Space Development Agency develops and fields the capabilities outlined in the DoD Space Vision. Resources will shift from service space acquisition organizations to the Space Development Agency as soon as practicable.

—Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018

Space Operations Force

    Space Operations Support

    From Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018:

SPACE OPERATIONS FORCE

Today all five Military branches possess space expertise, but this space cadre is a small percentage of the total force. Historically, the Department has grown capability such as Special Forces, cyber, or medical, through identification, targeted support, training, and career development.

Change
To grow the needed joint warfighting expertise, the Department will establish the Space Operations Force. Similar to Special Operations Forces personnel provided by all Military Services, the Space Operations Force will be composed of the space personnel from all Military Services but developed and managed as one community. The Space Operations Force will provide the human capital needed to develop, field, and integrate space capabilities into multi- domain warfighting.

The Space Operations Force will:

• Include the space personnel from all Military Services, including Guard, Reserve, and civilians,
• Create a clear career track for the space community containing all relevant space specialties including operations, intelligence, engineering, science, acquisition, cyber, etc., and
• Be overseen by U.S. Space Command with civilian oversight from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, while personnel remain in the Services, until the establishment of the Space Force.

—Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018

Services and Support

    Services and Support

    From Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018:

SERVICES AND SUPPORT

Transition and timing to a sixth branch is paced by scaling and effectiveness of the Space Defense Agency and Space Operations Forces. To ensure a rapid and seamless transition, conditions and provisions must be identified and set in place.

In addition to warfighting, acquisition, and personnel, there are support functions that each of the existing Military Services provide with some variation. These capabilities include:

• Recruiting,
• Legal,
• Financial management,
• Logistics,
• Medical, and
• Human resources.

Change

As a part of the Department’s legislative proposal for the Space Force, the sixth branch of the Armed Forces, the Department will outline how to provide these services and support.

—Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018

Space Command

    Space Command

    From Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018:

U.S. SPACE COMMAND

Like other military services, the Space Force will be an organize, train, and equip (OTE) organization responsible for national security interests in the physical domain of space. The President recognizes that additional changes beyond OTE are needed to improve and evolve the Department of DefenseÕs space warfighting components. To achieve this, the Department of Defense will elevate and enhance its space warfighting activities. The innovations that occurred between World War I and World War II created many of the key technologies and capabilities, such as the aircraft carrier, that enabled U.S. and Allied victory in World War II. The leadership of the new U.S. Space Command will provide that spirit of innovation and experimentation combining warfighters and technical expertise. The National Defense Strategy identified the importance of “being strategically predictable, but operationally unpredictable” and fostering a competitive mindset in order to “out-think, out-maneuver, out-partner, and out-innovate” potential adversaries.

Change
To further accelerate warfighting capability, the Department recommends creating a new U.S. Space Command to become a unified combatant command. U.S. Space Command will be responsible for preparing for and deterring conflict in space and leading U.S. forces in that fight if it should happen.

U.S. Space Command will:

• Lead U.S. warfighting activities in space and establish unity of command for operational space forces,
• Integrate space planning and operations across military campaigns and contingency plans,
• Simplify the command structure by aligning operational forces to the commander responsible for joint space warfighting,
• Develop space doctrine, concepts of operation and space tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs),
• Establish enterprise space standards to be adopted by the Military Services, ensuring interoperability of the joint force, and
• Utilize commercial practices and digitization to streamline the footprint and automate labor-intensive operations.

—Final Report on Organizational and Management Structure for the National Security Space Components of the Department of Defense, 9 August 2018

ranks

    The military rank structure:

commissioned officers

pay grade	rank
O-10	Admiral
O-9	General
O-8	Commodore
O-7	Captain
O-6	Colonel
O-5	Commander
O-4	Major
O-3	FIrst Lieutenant
O-2	Second Lieutenant
O-1	Ensign

enlisted and non-commissioned officers (NCOs)

pay grade	NCO rank	specialist rank
E-9	Command Sergeant Major	Sergeant Major
E-8	First Sergeant	Master Sergeant
E-7	Platoon Sergeant or Gunnery Sergeant	Sergeant First Class
E-6	Staff Sergeant	Technical Sergeant
E-5	Sergeant	Specialist-5
E-4	Corporal	Specialist
E-3	—	Lance Corporal
E-2	—	Private First Class
E-1	—	Private

table of contents

0. fans of space
1. Space Force
2. response to criticism of Space Force
3. space situational awareness
4. space control
5. protecting satellites
6. space debris
7. navigation warfare
8. surveillance
9. satellite communications
10. environmental monitoring
11. missile warning
12. nuclear detonation detection
13. drones
14. spacelift
15. space academy
16. spaceborne military base
17. asteroid mining
18. disaster relief
19. first contact
20. space warfare
21. spaceborne energy
22. spaceborne food
23. orbital ring
24. moon base
25. colonizing the solar system
26. megastructures
27. T O & E
28. Pence speech
29. history
30. space news