Huntsville already in SPACECOM mix as relocation moves ahead
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Lt. Gen. Richard Zellmann speaks Thursday at GEOHuntsville. Photo: Derek Lacey/Axios
U.S. Space Command is already up and running on Redstone Arsenal.
Why it matters: As its relocation advances, a top SPACECOM official addressed a crowd in Huntsville to lay out its mission and how it can collaborate locally to achieve it.
Zoom in: Speaking at GEOHuntsville Thursday, Lt. Gen. Richard Zellmann, SPACECOM deputy director, said the plan is to have half its personnel at Redstone by 2028.
Context: GEOHuntsville got its start in 2012 as part of Mayor Tommy Battle's Exemplar City initiative, and about 180 attendees registered this year, per executive director Stan Tillman.
- Tillman told Axios Thursday the event looks to promote Huntsville as a mecca for geospatial business, saying, "We try to bring academia, government, commercial all together ... to promote the geospatial economy in this region."
Driving the news: To that end, Zellmann stressed the need for STEM and space fluency on top of traditional roles when asked what local universities or industry partners could do to help SPACECOM meet its workforce needs.
- "So taking a normal career field like intelligence and adding space tradecraft on top of it is going to be important," he said. "And that applies for really everything we do."
On threats posed in space by America's adversaries, Zellmann said Iran itself is not much of a player in space, but China and Russia are, and they're taking different approaches.
- Russia is working to develop a space-based nuclear weapon capable of destroying satellites wholesale, whether military or commercial.
- China is taking a more pointed approach, building up capabilities in space to match the U.S. and focusing on the ability to target and take down individual satellites.
What they're saying: "If the adversary can take out a couple of your satellites, and you can still have enough resilience to bring the fight back to them, then what you gain out of that is second-mover legitimacy," he said.
- "I think generally as a nation, that's the way we fight," Zellmann said, explaining that being able to operate through that first strike — like the U.S. did after Pearl Harbor — is one of SPACECOM's key "elements of victory."
Zoom out: While Zellmann was speaking in Huntsville, SPACECOM Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
- Whiting told Sen. Tommy Tuberville that leaders are moving forward with construction plans for its Redstone Arsenal headquarters, which he said should come online in 2031.
- He said they're planning a ribbon cutting in Huntsville in April on a top-secret SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) capable of seating 80.
- About 20 personnel are in Huntsville already, and he expects about 200 to be on site by the end of this year.