Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, formerly the National Reconnaissance Office’s deputy director, has assumed leadership of Space Systems Command, which will gather and develop space technologies that support the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy.
SSC, which serves as the U. S. Space Force’s second field command, will launch, produce, maintain and test the service branch’s space systems, USSF said Friday.
The command will also perform on-orbit checkout for these systems and oversee the Space Force’s science and technology projects. USSF’s Space and Missile Systems Center, formerly part of the U.S. Air Force, will function as SSC’s core.
“Space Systems Command is about continuing the culture shift away from being service providers to being warfighters and defending our way of life from, through and in space,” said Guetlein, who was promoted to a three-star military officer on Friday.
He will lead a 10,000-man workforce of both military and civilian personnel and oversee 85 percent of the Department of Defense’s $11 billion space budget. Guetlein helped manage NRO’s tactical and strategic operations and led the agency’s Space Force-related activities in his former role.
If you’re interested in learning more about the military’s space goals, check out GovConWire’s Space Acquisition Forum on Sept. 14th. Register here.