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First Chief of Space Operations sworn in to serve as highest-ranking Space Force member

Air January 22, 2020

The US has appointed the first Chief of Space Operations for the newly-created Space Force at a ceremony in Washington DC.

Air Force General John W. ‘Jay’ Raymond was sworn in as the first Chief of Space Operations during a formal ceremony at the White House. It came less than a month after the Space Force, by law, became the sixth independent branch of the U.S. military, marking the first time since 1947 that a new military branch had been created.

The Space Force’s overarching responsibility is training, equipping and organising a cadre of space professionals who protect U.S. and allied interests in space while also providing space capabilities to the joint force. The Space Force’s mandate includes developing military space professionals, acquiring military space systems, refining military doctrine for space power, and organising space forces for use by combatant commands.

General Raymond said: “Not only is this historical; it’s critical. That is not lost on me or the outstanding Americans who serve with me.”

“We want to deter that conflict from happening, the best way I know how to do that is through a position of strength.”

Before his new role, Raymond was the commander of Air Force Space Command, which carried the nation’s primary military focus on space, managing a constellation of satellites, developing policy and programs and training frontline space operators. Air Force Space Command was redesignated as the U.S. Space Force under the recently passed NDAA.

More broadly, the Space Force is responsible for maintaining the United States’ space superiority, even as space becomes more crowded and contested. The NDAA, which created the Space Force, also directs that the Space Force ‘shall provide the freedom of operation in, from, and to space, while providing prompt and sustained space operations’.

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Post written by: Ciara Houghton