U.S. Army has a new Major Command
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 10, 1997) -- On Oct. 1, 1997, the Army created its newest major command -- the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. The U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command, formerly a field operating agency of the Army Chief of Staff, was redesignated to reflect its added responsibilities and missions.
In its new role, SMDC serves as the Army Component Command to the joint U.S. Space Command, the specified proponent for space and national missile defense, the materiel developer for assigned programs, and the Army's integrator for theater missile defense.
The command ensures that Army warfighters have:
- access to space assets and the products they provide to win decisively with minimum casualties, and
- effective missile defense to protect the nation as well as deployed U.S. forces and those of its allies.
To fulfill its new responsibilities, SMDC has restructured its assets. The command has formed the Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab, focusing the Army's space and missile defense efforts, and linking its efforts with TRADOC battle labs.
The newly created Force Development and Integration Center in Arlington, Va., will perform the proponent functions of doctrine, training, leader development, organizations, materiel, and soldier support for space and national missile defense.
Another organizational element, the Space and Missile Defense Acquisition Center in Huntsville, Ala., will centralize the command's materiel development, targets and test facility management into one overarching organization that will include the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (formerly Aerostat) Project Office in Huntsville; the Ballistic Missile Targets Joint Program Office in Huntsville; the Army Space Program Office in Fairfax, Va.; the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.; and the Kwajalein Missile Range in the central Pacific. The director of this center is dual-hatted as the deputy commanding general of SMDC.
The command's Missile Defense and Space Technology Center remains in Huntsville as a center of excellence for missile defense technology, and has added space technology development, as well. It continues to support
DoD's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, provide technical support to the Army Program Executive Office for Air and Missile Defense, and develop technologies for expanding Army space programs. The center has established a new Space Technology Directorate which functions as the command's space technology scout by identifying space technologies and applications developed by the Army and other agencies, and developing a long-range space research and development program.
The U.S. Army Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., consisting of the Army's space warriors, continues to support the warfighter with space-based products and capabilities and provides long-haul satellite communications to the warfighter through the worldwide Defense Satellite Communications System. It also manages the Army's astronaut detachment at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Building on 40 years of achievement and progress in the space and missile defense arena, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command is ready to continue to support these crucial missions in the 21st century, according to Lt. Gen. Edward G. Anderson III, USASMDC's commanding general. "With the changes we've made," said Anderson, "I'm confident the command will give our most important asset, the joint ground warfighter, the support needed to remain the decisive edge on future battlefields."
NEWSLETTERJoin the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
