In this 2020 photo, the 2nd Space Warning Squadron Det. 1 operates the Space Based Infrared System satellite constellation from the Mission Control Station at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. U.S. Space Force / Tech. Sgt. J.T. Armstrong
Space Force picks next mission areas for new ‘integrated’ units
Officials want to create more Integrated Mission Deltas to boost readiness.
The Space Force is expanding a model for its units that puts operations and sustainment under one roof and is taking it to two new missions: missile warning and space domain awareness.
The service has already seen success and an increase in readiness from the first two of these “Integrated Mission Deltas,” or IMDs, which stood up in September. The first units to make the change are focused on electromagnetic warfare and positioning, navigation, and timing, or PNT.
“In the next few months, you can look for missile warning and space domain awareness as two mission areas, then in the future, satellite communications, for example, and orbital warfare,” said Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of Space Systems Command.
This prototype model puts operations, acquisition, and sustainment for certain missions under single team leaders, a model that’s different from the current structure of the service, which splits these into different commands.
Space Force officials have previously said that not all of its deltas—the service’s equivalent to Air Force wings—need to become integrated deltas. Over the next year and a half, the service will finish picking the rest of the mission areas, Garrant said Tuesday during an event hosted by the Mitchell Institute.
“It is a pretty significant lift when you look at organizational change requests and some of the restructuring and then making sure that we’re not hurting anyone’s career when we stand up these commands, we're not making anyone lose their jobs. It’s a very deliberate process,” Garrant said.
In the near term, the new units won’t require any additional people and won’t require any people to move, Garrant said, but in the future, “10 years down the road,” it might make sense to move some people around.
The stand-up of these new units comes as the Air Force and Space Force have begun rolling out a slew of changes to restructure how the department deploys forces, in an effort to increase readiness and prepare for a potential conflict with China.
The Space Force’s deltas report to the head of Space Operations Command, Lt. Gen. David Miller, who is in charge of organizing and training guardians and sending them to Space Command and other combatant commands.