TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The American military often talks about how it has a global reach. We had the chance to talk to the commander of a new unit at Davis-Monthan that has a responsibility that reaches into space.
It’s fairly easy to understand the basics of what the Army, Navy, and Air Force do.
Understanding the Space Force is not so easy. Space Force Colonel Brandon Alford says if it’s a capability that involves space, it’s part of the Space Force mission.
“For example, in order to talk to each other, use satellite communication in order to navigate, use GPS signals off satellites in order to keep us safe. We have sensors in space that are detecting launches, and that's all commanded and controlled and protected by the Space Force.”
In a ceremony a few weeks ago, Colonel Alford took command of a new Space Force unit at Davis-Monthan. It’s attached to Air Forces Southern, the Air Force Command that covers the Caribbean, Central and South America.
Colonel Alford says countries he works with do not need big launch sites or large fleets of satellites to be involved in space operations.
“With as much as a Wi Fi connection and an unclassified laptop, we can start working with a partner nation, for example, in the mission area of space domain awareness, which is a fancy way of saying, understanding what's in space and what it's doing. Our partners are interested in that, and so we can bring them into the fold.”
Space Force is only about six years old and is still fairly small. Many Space Force Guardians transferred from the Air Force but Colonel Alford says more and more of them have spent their entire career in the Space Force, applying their skills so our abilities in space keep us safe on the Earth.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
