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Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), created Sept. 1, 1982, is one of
nine Air Force major commands, and is headquartered at Peterson Air
Force Base, Colo. AFSPC defends America through its space and intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM) operations, vital force elements in projecting
global reach and global power. AFSPC is a key factor in implementing
the expeditionary aerospace force organizational structure.
Mission
Air Force Space Command brings space to the warfighter by continuously
improving the command's ability to provide and support combat forces
-- assuring their access to space. In addition, the command's ICBM forces
deter any adversary contemplating the use of weapons of mass destruction.
AFSPC has four primary mission areas:
Space forces support involves launching satellites and other
high-value payloads into space using a variety of expendable launch vehicles
and operating those satellites once in the medium of space.
Space control ensures friendly use of space through the conduct
of counterspace operations encompassing surveillance, negation and protection.
Force enhancement provides weather, communications, intelligence,
missile warning and navigation.
Force application involves maintaining and operating a rapid
response land-based ICBM force as part of the nation's strategic nuclear
triad.
 Personnel
Approximately 37,200 people, including 25,800 active-duty military and
civilians, and 11,360 contractor employees, combine to perform AFSPC
missions.
Organization
Air Force Space Command has two numbered air forces. Fourteenth Air
Force provides space warfighting forces to U.S. Space Command, and is
located at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Fourteenth Air Force manages the generation
and employment of space forces to support U.S. Space Command and North
American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) operational plans and missions.
Twentieth Air Force, located at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., operates and maintains
AFSPC's ICBM weapon systems in support of U.S. Strategic Command war
plans.
The Space Warfare Center at Schriever AFB, Colo. is also part of the
command. The center plays a major role in fully integrating space systems
into the operational Air Force. Its force enhancement mission looks at
ways to use space systems to support warfighters in the areas of navigation,
weather, intelligence, communications and theater ballistic missile warning,
and how these apply to theater operations. The center is also home to
the Space Battlelab.
AFSPC is the major command providing space forces for the U.S. Space
Command and trained ICBM forces for U.S. Strategic Command. AFSPC also
supports NORAD with ballistic missile warning information, operates the
Space Warfare Center to develop space applications for direct warfighter
support, and is responsible for the Department of Defense's ICBM follow-on
operational test and evaluation program.
AFSPC bases and stations include: Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, Schriever
and Peterson AFBs and Buckley Air National Guard Base, Colo.; Onizuka
AS and Vandenberg AFB, Calif.; Cape Canaveral AS and Patrick AFB, Fla.;
Cavalier AS, N.D.; F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo.; Malmstrom AFB, Mont.; Clear
AS, Alaska; Thule AB, Greenland; and Woomera AS, Australia. AFSPC units
are located around the world, including Japan, the United Kingdom and
Germany.
Space Capabilities
Spacelift operations at the East and West Coast launch bases provide
services, facilities and range safety control for the conduct of DOD,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and commercial launches.
Through the command and control of all DOD satellites, satellite operators
provide force-multiplying effects -- continuous global coverage, low
vulnerability and autonomous operations. Satellites provide essential
in-theater secure communications, weather and navigational data for ground,
air and fleet operations, and threat warning. Ground-based radar and
Defense Support Program satellites monitor ballistic missile launches
around the world to guard against a surprise attack on North America.
Space surveillance radars provide vital information on the location of
satellites and space debris for the nation and the world. With a readiness
rate above 99 percent, America's ICBM team plays a critical role in maintaining
world peace and ensuring the nation's safety and security.
Resources
AFSPC operates and supports the Global Positioning System, Defense Satellite
Communications Systems Phase II and III, Defense Support Program, NATO
III and IV communications and Fleet Satellite Communications System UHF
follow-on and MILSTAR satellites. AFSPC currently operates the Atlas
II, Delta II, Titan II and Titan IV launch vehicles. This includes all
of the nation's primary boosters from the Eastern and Western ranges
and range support for the space shuttle. AFSPC also operates the nation's
primary source of continuous, real-time solar flare warnings. The command
also operates a worldwide network of satellite tracking stations to provide
communications links to satellites -- a system called the Air Force Satellite
Control Network.
Ground-based radars used primarily for ballistic missile warning include
the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, PAVE PAWS and PARCS radars.
The Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance System, Passive
Space Surveillance System, phased-array and mechanical radars provide
primary space surveillance coverage.
The ICBM force consists
of Minuteman III and Peacekeeper missiles that provide the critical
component of America's on-alert strategic forces.
As the nation's "silent sentinels," ICBMs, and the people who
operate them, have remained on continuous around-the-clock alert since
1959 -- longer than any other U.S. strategic force. Five hundred Minuteman
III and 50 Peacekeepter ICBMs are currently on alert in reinforced concrete
launch facilities beneath the Great Plains.
AFSPC is the Air Force's largest operator of UH-1N Huey helicopters,
responsible for missile operations support and security.
History
Missile warning and space operations were combined to form Air Force
Space Command in 1982, the same year NASA launched the first space shuttle.
During the Cold War, space operations focused on missile warning, and
command and control for national leadership. In 1991, Operation Desert
Storm provided emphasis for the command's new focus on support to the
warfighter. ICBM forces were merged into AFSPC in 1993.
Point of Contact
Air Force Space Command, Public
Affairs Office; 150 Vandenberg St., Suite 1105; Peterson AFB, CO 80914-4500;
DSN 692-3731, or (719) 554-3731.
Above Information Courtesy
of United States Air Force
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