U.S. Space Command at Redstone moves forward with site unveiling

REDSTONE ARSENAL – The Secretary of War Pete Hegseth joined military, Congressional, state and local leaders Friday afternoon for a sign unveiling at the future 60acre site for a new U.S. Space Command headquarters location at Redstone Arsenal “I want to say congratulations to Alabama, congratulations to Huntsville, congratulations to Redstone Arsenal, congratulations to this entire (congressional) delegation,” Hegseth said. “You guys represent your state extremely well. And I also want to pass my congratulations and thanks from President Trump.”

Trump announced on Sept. 2 that Space Command would relocate from Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, to Redstone.

“We are deadly serious and committed to cutting every piece of red tape and bureaucracy to get this headquarters established as quickly as humanly possible,” Hegseth said.

“The quicker we establish this, the more robust the capabilities are, the more likely we are able to deter the next conflict and, if necessary, stand prepared to overwhelmingly defeat our enemies.”

Hegseth said the president has “understood the importance of the space domain from the beginning, from his first term … from recognizing the importance and the need for Space Force, to the recognition of reestablishing Space Com, to commissioning the study to look into it, to choosing this place, to commissioning another study, to then ensuring in his second term, once again, the Air Force secretary made the right choice… to continue to establish space dominance — right here in Alabama.”

“It is great to finally be at Rocket City for the final location of U.S. Space Command,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meinke said. “After five years of assessing and independent assessments that all said this was the place for U.S. Space Command to be, the president, secretary (of war) made the decision. Now we are off to the races to get it done because it is critical capability.

“We’re already working with Congress, the other parts of the Department of War, local community to kick it off and get it going, and we’re going to continue to need that help to get it done. Why? Because my current job, secretary (of the) Department of the Air Force, I deliver capability. Gen. Whiting, as the commander of U.S. Space Command, employs that capability, and that capability is critical to the security of this nation more than ever. And getting it stood up and getting it fully operational is one of my focuses going forward.”

Gen. Stephen Whiting, the commander of Space Command, said it’s vital that the U.S. remains “the world’s preeminent space power, ensuring that America’s interests are protected in the high frontier and that we provide every Soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, Coast Guardsman and Guardian with the space capabilities they need to fight as the most effective, precise, lethal, far-ranging force on the planet. Which is why we must guarantee that there is never a day without space.”

Others speaking at the ceremony were Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, commander of Army Materiel Command; Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Ranae Bartlett; U.S. Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt; and U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers and Dale Strong.

Earlier in the week, at the Dec. 10 Redstone Update in Huntsville, Whiting said that a transition office is now “up and running” at the installation.

“As you can imagine, this is a very complex undertaking with a lot of considerations and a lot of stakeholders that are involved,” Whiting said. “But what I’m excited to announce today is that our small but growing transition office – what we call our program management office — is now up and running at Redstone.”

In his Redstone Update speech, Whiting said it was “an extraordinary event when the president stands in the Oval Office and announces that your headquarters is moving locations. We took that very seriously.

“We’ve been hard at work with the military leaders like Gen. Lawrence on Redstone, like the Garrison — we so appreciate our teammates at Redstone Garrison — and our stakeholders in the Pentagon to begin planning the move.” Whiting was referring to Lt. Gen. Gavin Lawrence, the deputy commanding general of the Army Materiel Command and Redstone Arsenal’s senior commander.

Whiting said the Alabama Congressional delegation included language that provided military construction reforms in the draft National Defense Authorization Act. “And if that moves into law, it’s going to provide some new ways of doing business, which should accelerate our move here to Huntsville,” Whiting said.

“U.S. Space Command’s excited to be moving to Huntsville and North Alabama and we commit to do so in a professional, expeditious and efficient manner while ensuring we fully execute all of our ongoing vital real-world missions.”

Whiting explained that Space Command is a joint combatant command composed of military personnel from all the armed forces – the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Space Force and the Coast Guard.

Space Command, one of 11 combatant commands, is responsible for leading all U.S. military operations in space. It is known inside the military as a geographic combatant command, Whiting said. “About half of the combatant commands are given an area of responsibility that we lead U.S. military operations in. It just so happens ours is not on planet Earth. Our AOR starts 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface and then extends out to infinity.”

Whiting said that the headquarters staff that is moving to Redstone is composed of just over 1,300 personnel, with 60% of them government civilians and 40% uniformed military from all of the services. “Our entire command encapsulates 18,000 people but the majority of those people are in our service components like the great U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command that’s been headquartered here at Redstone for many years. And then we have forces and commands from all the other services. Those organizations aren’t moving as part of this change. It’s only the headquarters of U.S. Space Command that will be moving to this city.”

Whiting said that “it’s our responsibility to make sure that our vital missions that we conduct each and every day at U.S. Space Command are not impacted as we move here. And we appreciate your support as we do that.”