Space Force to activate CENTCOM component Dec. 2

The Space Force will activate its component of U.S. Central Command on Dec. 2, the command announced in a news release.

U.S. Space Forces-Central, or SPACECENT, will initially consist of 28 servicemembers and will be led by Col. Christopher Putman, CENTCOM said in the Nov. 30 release.

Activating the component will, according to CENTCOM, enable better coordination for the use of space assets and give the Space Force a more direct role in regional operations.

“Just as the evolution of space as a warfighting domain necessitated the establishment of a separate service, SPACECENT provides CENTCOM a subordinate command focused solely and continuously on space integration across the command -- with all domains and all components,” Putman said in the release.

SPACECENT is the third service component to be activated at a unified combatant command following Space Operations Command at U.S. Space Command and U.S. Space Forces, Indo-Pacific at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The INDOPACOM component, called USSPACEFOR-INDOPAC, was activated Nov. 23.

As one of 11 combatant commands, CENTCOM coordinates joint force operations in the Middle East. The command is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, FL.