{"id":345614,"date":"2025-12-13T02:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T02:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/345614\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T02:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T02:48:10","slug":"space-force-unveils-new-themes-for-weapon-systems-to-boost-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/345614\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force unveils new themes for weapon systems to boost identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Space Force released names of space weapon systems to better link guardians with the force\u2019s specific culture and identity, according to remarks<\/a> published by the force.<\/p>\n

At the 2025 Space Force Association\u2019s Spacepower Conference, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said in a keynote address<\/a> Thursday that the force will begin labeling mission areas to help elevate the identity of the force\u2019s weapon systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese symbols conjure the character of the systems, the importance of their mission, and the identity of the Guardians who employ them,\u201d Saltzman said in his speech.<\/p>\n

Saltzman went on, nothing that the Space Force is a \u201chighly technical service\u201d and the identity of it is rooted just as much in the systems employed as those who operate them.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, teams across the force\u2019s operational units have been working to define these terms of reference to \u201ccement the identities\u201d of the space weapon systems, he continued in the keynote.<\/p>\n

To shape the seven mission area themes that were shown in this animation<\/a> at the Thursday conference, the force collected guardians\u2019 input via emails and conducted focus groups earlier this year, a Space Force spokesperson told Military Times.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said guardians are currently using these assigned mission area themes to now submit ideas for more potential weapon system names to Headquarters Space Force, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Before names are finalized, the headquarters will complete a formal vetting process that includes considerations like trademark and licensing and protecting operational security, the spokesperson continued.<\/p>\n

In an October 2024 CSO notice<\/a>, Saltzman released a memo to guardians asking for their help in naming the equipment and systems the force operates.<\/p>\n

\u201cLanguage also reflects an organization\u2019s culture. After all, words are simply thoughts given form, so the way we refer to something says much about the way we conceptualize it,\u201d Saltzman said. \u201cTaken in the aggregate, our collective language provides insight into our shared values, our common desires, our group norms \u2014 in other words, our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naming weapon systems to give insight into its purpose or the branch\u2019s culture is not new within the U.S. military.<\/p>\n

The Air Force has the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the Army has the M1 Abrams and the Navy has the AEGIS Weapons System. <\/p>\n

Now, in its sixth year as an independent service, the Space Force is dubbing categories and systems after symbols, with seven revealed Thursday:<\/p>\n

Orbital warfare will be named the Norse pantheon; electromagnetic warfare systems are serpents; cyber warfare systems are mythological creatures; navigation warfare is sharks; satellite communications are constellations; missile warning is sentinels; and space domain awareness is ghosts.<\/p>\n

Illustrations of these categories circulated online in an unofficial Space Force Subreddit r\/SpaceForce<\/a> and were posted on DVIDS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuardians in each Delta help[ed] choose these themes to capture the identity of their mission and build their own unique warfighting culture,\u201d Saltzman said in his keynote speech.<\/p>\n

Saltzman also released the names of two systems after the \u201cspirit of their disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 10th Space Operations Squadron has named the Ultra-High Frequency Follow-On system as Ursa Major.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Big Dipper, as you all know, part of the Ursa Major constellation, famously points to Polaris, our north star, always linking us to our most important missions,\u201d Saltzman explained in the speech.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the 1st Space Operations Squadron designated their Operationally Responsive Space system as Bifrost, which in Nordic lore is the bridge between Earth and the gods\u2019 realm, per the speech. <\/p>\n

The system in Low Earth Orbit bridges the gap between Earth and the higher geostationary orbit of the other 1 SOPS systems.<\/p>\n

In the conference speech, Saltzman said that more themes will roll out but did not specify a timeline. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no current timeline for release of more names \u2014 our priority is ensuring Guardians have been given an appropriate amount of time to choose meaningful names that proudly represent their unit\u2019s heritage and mission,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Cristina Stassis is an editorial fellow for Defense News and Military Times, where she covers stories surrounding the defense industry, national security, military\/veteran affairs and more. She is currently studying journalism and mass communication and international affairs at the George Washington University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. Space Force released names of space weapon systems to better link guardians with the force\u2019s specific…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[99543,4426,4427,29910,79,193,11716,172738,172737,172736],"class_list":["post-345614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-chance-saltzman","tag-circulated-air-force-times","tag-circulated-military-times","tag-military-times","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-force","tag-space-force-association-s-spacepower-conference","tag-space-force-identity","tag-weapon-systems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345614","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=345614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}