Three federal lawmakers have urged the Defense Department to select Vandenberg Air Force Base as the future home for the new U.S. Space Command.
Congressman Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, joined with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Kamala Harris to sign a letter urging the secretary of the Air Force to designate Vandenberg as U.S. Space Command headquarters.
“Vandenberg’s existing space-related missions and assets, as well as its proximity to the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and numerous contractors who support the nation’s national security space enterprise, including space operations, offer Space Command unique and unparalleled advantages,” wrote Carbajal, Feinstein, and Harris.
“California [also] hosts the nation’s premier workforce for aerospace engineering and innovation, which would offer Space Command an unparalleled talent pool for defending our national interests in space,” they added.
“We appreciate the Air Force considering Vandenberg Air Force Base as a potential home for Space Command and look forward to the conclusion of the selection process.”
In addition to Vandenberg AFB, other possibles homes include the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, plus four bases in Colorado — Buckley Air Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Peterson AFB and Schriever AFB.
Defense Department Public Affairs staff did not respond to questions about the site selection process, timeline or other details.
U.S. Space Command would be a joint organization, meaning it would have members from all branches of the military and focus on conducting all joint space warfighting operations, and ensuring the combat readiness of global forces.
The decision to launch U.S. Space Command is separate from the suggestion to form a separate branch of the military — the Space Force.
U.S. Space Command is not a new concept since a similar organization with the same name existed from 1985 to 2002 while based in Colorado, making that state the presumptive front-runner in the current search.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U.S. Space Command dissolved and its functions fell into U.S. Strategic Command.
Last year, some 140 jobs at Vandenberg relocated to Colorado for a military reorganization.
The relocation put the employees closer to the Joint Force Space Component commander and co-located the workers with the National Defense Center.
While the home for the headquarters remains uncertain, the leader is not.
In March, President Donald Trump nominated the new commander of U.S. Space Command — and it’s a face familiar to Vandenberg.
Making Colorado the likely home for U.S. Space Command Headquarters is the fact defense officials said the future U.S. Space Command leader, Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, would remain dual-hatted — keeping his role leading Air Force Space Command, which has its headquarter at Peterson AFB.
Raymond had three stints at Vandenberg during his career.
From October 1989 to August 1993, he served as operations center officer controller for the 1st Strategic Aerospace Division, and executive officer to the 30th Space Wing commander.
For approximately two years starting in 2005, he served as 30th Operations Group commander at Vandenberg.
And he returned to Vandenberg again in January 2014 to serve as commander of the 14th Air Force, and the now-inactivated Joint Functional Component Command for Space.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.