STAR Command is a thing, and it’s coming to Florida

If you went back five years to when I saw my first rocket launch and tried to convince me that I would write an article about how STAR Command was a real thing now, I would probably tell you to get away from my cameras and beer. But here we are, and guess what? It’s real, well, in a way.

Before someone yells at me, the proper name is the Space Training and Readiness Command, typically referred to as STARCOMM. A field command of the US Space Force, it’s tasked with education, doctrine, and testing for the newest military branch.

Whether you recognize the name from cartoons, TV shows, movies, or my personal favorite, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command in Toy Story, it’s hard not to think if this name was just a coincidence or if someone on the inside is playing along with the game. But fear not, your tax dollars aren’t going to waste forming a brand new operation. It actually already existed and had just been renamed back to what it was initially called in 1992.

STAR Command isn’t new

After the conclusion of the Gulf War, the Department of Defense determined it needed a better grasp of operating in space. As a result, in 1992, STARCOM was created and placed under US Air Force Space Command to equip the military better to use its space assets in future wars.

The unit was quickly renamed; however, maybe someone saw the correlation between it and the fictional counterparts, but in 1993, the name was changed to the US Air Force Space Warfare Center, then simplified to just Space Warfare Center in 1994. The name was changed again to the Space Innovation and Development Center in 2006 before merging into the Air Force’s Warfare Center in 2013.

That brings us to 2019, when President Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act into law and created the US Space Force.

With the split between Air and Space Force personnel, the Space Force decided it needed its separate center once again. Since 2020 the provisional Space Training and Readiness Delta and then STARCOMM have been headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. However, as the Space Force grows and wishes to stretch out across the US, the Air Force announced it intends to move STARCOMM and Space Delta 10 to Patrick Space Force Base, Florida.

Located just south of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, where we see SpaceX, ULA, and eventually Blue Origin launch out of, Patricks has had a vital role in the space industry for both civil and military applications.

The move is still pretty far away, and the decision isn’t strictly final but expected as the Air Force works to finish an environmental review of the base.

It’s hard not to have a little fun with the naming and design choices the Space Force has made over the last three years. But the services have had an intrinsic good for the space defense sector with plans to improve capabilities while saving taxpayer money.