In November, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base did not make a list of six finalists to be home to Space Command headquarters, with its expected 1,400 new jobs, a disappointment to Dayton and Wright-Patt advocates.
Huntsville won a spot on that list of finalists, as did Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico; Offutt AFB, Nebraska; Patrick AFB, Florida; Peterson AFB, Colorado and Port San Antonio, Texas.
Redstone, near Huntsville, is a U.S. Army post that has served as a garrison for the Army Material Command, the Army Aviation and Missile Command, the Missile Defense Agency and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, among other missions.
U.S. Space Command was created by President Donald Trump in 2018. While U.S. Space Force headquarters has been —and will remain — in the Pentagon, Space Command was provisionally located in Colorado Springs until a new location was named.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sent a letter to the assistant secretary of the Air Force in June endorsing the nomination of Wright-Patterson and the state for command. Another letter signed by 22 area mayors and four county commission presidents that supported the Dayton region’s consideration for the headquarters was also submitted.
Dayton advocates cited Wright-Patterson’s core importance to Air Force and space missions, as well as the area’s relatively low cost of living and concentration of expertise.
Space Command and Space Force are not the same. The command is a military combatant command, conducting satellite, troop and other operations That is different from Space Force, which is a distinct military branch like the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
Space Force, which is part of the Department of the Air Force, will have the same responsibility to “organize, train and equip” forces that the other military branches have.
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