{"id":149554,"date":"2025-09-11T18:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T18:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/149554\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T18:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T18:28:07","slug":"space-force-considers-adding-combat-to-commands-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/149554\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force considers adding \u2018combat\u2019 to command\u2019s name"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Space Force appears to be embracing its inner Johnny Rico<\/a> with a possible name change of one of its commands.<\/p>\n

The service is considering changing Space Operations Command\u2019s name to Combat Forces Command, pending Senate confirmation of its new commander, Space Force spokesperson Lt. Col. Victoria Porto said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe name change better reflects the field command\u2019s critical responsibility as the Space Force\u2019s proponent for combat space power, including generating and improving combat-ready forces to execute service and combatant command assigned missions,\u201d Porto told Task & Purpose.<\/p>\n

The command is tasked with generating and sustaining combat-ready intelligence, cyber and space forces and working with the rest of the U.S. government, allies, and commercial agencies to \u201cproject combat power in, from, and to space,\u201d Porto said.<\/p>\n

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Ars Technica<\/a> first reported on Monday that Space Force was mulling the change, noting that Space Force Maj. Gen. Gregory J. Gagnon was recently nominated<\/a> to receive his third star and lead U.S. Space Force Combat Forces Command, located at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado.<\/p>\n

The command has not changed names yet, said a Pentagon official, who explained that if the name change is approved, it would take effect when Gagnon takes over.<\/p>\n

Since it was founded in December 2019, the Space Force has not been associated with combat missions to the degree that other military branches are, such as the Marine Corps. Rather, the service has allowed the U.S. military to consolidate its satellite operations<\/a> under one roof.<\/p>\n

But space is becoming an increasingly dangerous place for American satellites, as evidenced by news in 2024 that Russia was developing a space-based weapon armed with a nuclear device<\/a> that sounds a lot like the device that James Bond faced in \u201cGoldenEye\u201d <\/a>\u2014 which was actually a movie before it became a popular videogame.<\/p>\n

Chief of Space Operations B. Chance Saltzman has warned that China is investing in several types of counterspace weapons<\/a>, including ground-based lasers.<\/p>\n

The Space Force mission areas also include orbital warfare, electromagnetic warfare, and cyberspace warfare, showing that the service is as much part of the fight as the other military branches.<\/p>\n

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Still, Todd Harrison, of the American Enterprise Institute think tank, cautioned against reading too much into the possible name change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s semantics,\u201d Harrison told Task & Purpose. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s substantive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison said he believes the Space Force is trying to embrace the type of language used by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, including Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon chief whose own title may be legally changed to secretary of war if Congress approves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a fair point that the name \u2018Space Operations Command\u2019 is a bit confusing with Space Command,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s fair that they may want to disambiguate that. I think the fact that they\u2019re putting \u2018combat\u2019 in the name is not a change in policy. I don\u2019t think it reflects a sudden shift in capabilities. I think it\u2019s just adopting the language of this administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jeff Schogol is the senior Pentagon reporter for Task & Purpose. He has covered the military for nearly 20 years. Email him at schogol@taskandpurpose.com; direct message @JSchogol73030 on Twitter; or reach him on WhatsApp and Signal at 703-909-6488.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Space Force appears to be embracing its inner Johnny Rico with a possible name change of one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[79,193],"class_list":["post-149554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}