United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command
The United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command is an Army Service Component Command of the United States Army. The command was established in 1997. The current USASMDC commander is Lieutenant General Daniel L. Karbler with Senior Enlisted AdvisorCommand Sergeant Major Finis A. Dodson. The Army Space Command stood up in April 1988 as a field operating agency of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans. As the Army component of U.S. Space Command, ARSPACE was to provide the Army perspective in planning for Department of Defense space support and ensure the integration of Army requirements into joint planning for space support and "conduct planning for DoD space operations in support of Army strategic, operational and tactical missions." A relatively small organization, it was soon put to the test. The new command was instrumental in bringing space assets to U.S. Army forces during Operation Desert Storm. Following the war, new operational missions, such as the Army Space Support Teams and the Joint Tactical Ground Stations, became key elements of the Army space program. Organizationally however, ARSPACE remained a command, a Tables of Distribution and Allowances, or TDA, organization with offices and directorates according to mission, rather than an Army operational Table of Organization and Equipment unit. This changed on 1 May 1995. On that date, ARSPACE's Military Satellite Communications Directorate or MILSATCOM Directorate became the 1st Satellite Control, or SATCON, Battalion—the first Army battalion with an operational mission tied to space systems and capabilities.
Structure
The SMDC is made up of several components, Active Army and full-time Army National Guard, due to the 24-hour a day, 7-day a week, 365-day a year nature of SMDC's mission:
The 117th Space Battalion has a training, readiness, and oversight relationship with the 1st Space Brigade but is not actually part of it, as of 2018–19.
Space and Missile Defense Acquisition Center based in Huntsville, Alabama; the SMDAC comprises:
*Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensors Project Office based in Huntsville, Alabama
*Ballistic Missile Targets Joint Project Office based in Huntsville, Alabama
1st Space Brigade
The 1st Space Brigade was activated in May 2003, with the 1st Space Battalion, the 1st Satellite Control Battalion, and the 193rd Space Battalion. The mission of 1st Space Brigade is to "conduct continuous, global space support, space control and space force enhancement operations in support of U.S. Strategic Command and Supported Combatant Commanders enabling the delivery of decisive combat power." 53rd Signal Battalion conducts payload and transmission control of the Defense Satellite Communications System and Wideband Global Satellite Communications System constellations. Friendly force tracking is one of the basic functions of the SMDC.
History
On 27 Sept. 1974, at the Missile Site Radar Complex near Nekoma, North Dakota, and at the Ballistic Missile Defense Center at NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain, the Safeguard System facilities were officially transferred to the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Command after a four and one-half-year construction project by 10 companies.
