BUCKLEY SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. \u2013 Approximately 150 civic leaders, business representatives and military officials gathered at the Aurora Municipal Center in Aurora, Colorado, March 12, 2026, for the annual State of the Base address hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Buckley Regional Military Affairs Council and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Aurora.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am honored to serve alongside our service members and to work hand-in-hand with our mission and community partners,\u201d said Col. Eamon Murray, Space Base Delta 2 commander. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be where we are today without your strength, commitment, and collaboration.\u201d This message set the stage for a detailed overview of the base\u2019s recent achievements, critical role in national defense and the economic partnership with the Aurora community.<\/p>\n
Throughout the past year, some of Buckley\u2019s accomplishments included large-scale combat readiness exercises known as PANTHER VIEW conducted at Buckley and at geographically separated units such as Cape Cod Space Force Station in Massachusetts. The exercises tested the installation\u2019s ability to detect, respond to and defeat evolving threats while coordinating with local and federal partners, including the Aurora Police Department and the FBI\u2019s Denver Field Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nature of modern warfare has blurred the line between \u201coverseas\u201d conflicts and the security of the American homeland,\u201d said Murray.<\/p>\n
To meet this challenge, Murray highlighted upcoming base projects like a new power substation and a planned microgrid to ensure the installations resilience.<\/p>\n
The State of the Base address also showcased the remarkable and diverse accomplishments from across the installation\u2019s 117 mission partners. These achievements ranged from supporting global combat operations and earning national-level awards, to modernizing critical infrastructure and providing direct support to the nation\u2019s space exploration goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuckley\u2019s mission is global, but our foundation is local,\u201d said Chief Master Sgt. Benjamin Johnson, Space Base Delta 2 senior enlisted airman. \u201cThe strength of this installation depends on the strength of the community surrounding it.<\/p>\n
While the impact of Buckley is felt worldwide, the base\u2019s economic contribution is a pillar of the local community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event concluded with Murray highlighting the base\u2019s role as a major economic partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2025, Buckley contributed over $2.4 billion to the local economy, strengthening not only national security, but also the community where we live, shop, and our kids go to school,\u201d said Murray. \u201cThe community that makes our mission possible.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUCKLEY SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. \u2013 Approximately 150 civic leaders, business representatives and military officials gathered at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-527546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527546","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=527546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}