Vanguard Magazine

crisis and conflict". Over the years, New Zealand, France, and Germany joined the Combined Space Operations initiative. The CSpO MOU and the establishment of the CSpOC had a significant, funda- mental impact on the future conduct of combined military space operations. With formal structures in place, cooperation at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels was possible, and space capabilities could be seamlessly brought to bear with greater resilience in support of traditional military operations. And as form follows function, the CSpO allies and partners are now reorganizing and expanding their space cadres from ad hoc to deliberate military organizational structures. the United States Space Force The most dramatic and perhaps least un- derstood of these reorganizations and ex- pansions occurred in the United States. All Branches of the United States Armed Forces (USAF) had a space cadre, with www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2020/JANUARY 2021 13 USAF being the largest. A major initiative of the Trump administration was to reor- ganize the US military space cadre under a single Service. The US Space Force (USSF) is a new Service, reporting to the Secretary of the Air Force. The mission of the USSF is to organize, train, and equip the US space cadre and ensure the force is ready to conduct operations in support of US com- batant commanders and combined forces. As a service commander, the USSF's Chief of Space Operations has roles and respon- sibilities very similar to the Commander of the RCAF. As part of collapsing two levels of struc- ture, the USSF is standing up three new field commands: Space Operations Com- mand (SPOC) that just formed is respon- sible for the generation, presentation, and sustainment of intelligence, cyber, space and space support forces; Space Systems Command (SSC) will be responsible for developing, testing, acquiring, fielding and maintaining space systems to include space launch; and Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), which will be re- sponsible for the training and education of space professionals. Viewed from an RCAF perspective, SPOC is roughly equivalent to 1 Canadian Air Division, SSC to an ADM Mat for space capability, and STARCOM will be analogous to 2 Canadian Air Di- vision and the RCAF Aerospace Warfare Centre accountabilities. While the USSF provides combat-ready space capabilities, it is the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) that actually plans and conducts space op- erations, both in support of traditional military operations and in space itself. USSPACECOM has two subordinate commands: Combined Force Space Com- ponent Command (CFSCC) and Joint Task Force Space Defence (JTF-SD). USSPACECOM is roughly equivalent to Canada's Joint Operations Command but solely focused on space operations and space support to Joint forces. space

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