This article needs to be updated.(April 2021) |
233d Space Group | |
---|---|
Active | 1992 – present |
Country | United States |
Allegiance | Colorado |
Branch | Air National Guard |
Type | Group |
Role | Space Communications |
Part of | Attached to 140th Wing [1] |
Garrison/HQ | Greeley Air National Guard Station, Greeley, Colorado |
Commanders | |
Current commander | Col. Stephanie Figueroa |
The 233d Space Group (233SG) is a unit of the Colorado Air National Guard located at Greeley Air National Guard Station, Greeley, CO. The 233d Space Group provides immediate, worldwide missile warning as well as space launch and detection in the event of an attack against the United States. [2] If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force or United States Space Force depending on decisions made in the hopefully near future by military leaders and Congress.
The 233d Space Group operates the Air Force's strategic survivable, mobile Defense Support Program ground station. The group provides endurable missile warning detection to the National Command Authority and has the ability to survive and operate through all phases of trans/post attack. In addition, the satellites provide immediate, worldwide missile warning, space launch, and nuclear detonation detection. [3] The members of the 233d Space Group are currently in the middle of a larger discussion involving a potential Space National Guard. The idea of a Space National Guard was introduced by military leaders upon the formation of The Space Force in 2019, but was turned down by Congress in 2021. The discussion/battle continues into 2024 with 11 Air National Guard units who perform space related missions being unsure of their future.
The history of the 233d Space Group is in the equipment it operates. The 233d Space Group activated 1 October 1995, assuming the mission of the 4th Space Warning Squadron (4 SWS), Holloman AFB, New Mexico. [2]
The mobile Defense Support Program (DSP) communication mission began on 1 October 1983, as the 1025th Communications Squadron (Mobile). [3] The 1025 CS spent its first three years testing the new mobile satellite communications equipment and training its people. On 1 November 1985, administrative operations were transferred to the 1st Space Wing, part of the newly formed Air Force Space Command. The 1025th Space Communications Squadron was redesignated as the 4th Satellite Communications Squadron on 1 August 1986. During an Air Force-wide reorganization, the 1st Space Wing and the 3d Space Wing were inactivated, and their assets merged into the newly renamed 21st Space Wing, at Peterson AFB, Colorado. The unit was renamed the 4th Space Communications Squadron. On 1 October 1992, the 4th SCS's mission was declassified. When the duties of the 4th SWS transferred to other space projects, the mobile DSP mission was transferred to the newly formed 233d Space Group, activated in 1995. [2]
Buckley Space Force Base is a United States Space Force base in Aurora, Colorado named after United States Army Air Service First Lieutenant John Harold Buckley. The base is run by Space Base Delta 2, with major units including the U.S. Space Force's Space Delta 4, the Colorado Air National Guard's 140th Wing, the Denver Naval Operations Support Center, and the National Reconnaissance Office's Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado.
The 50th Wing is an inactive United States Air Force wing.
The Colorado Air National Guard (CO ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Colorado, United States of America. It is, along with the Colorado Army National Guard, an element of the Colorado National Guard. The units of the Colorado Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Colorado through the office of the Colorado Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. The Colorado Air National Guard is headquartered in Centennial, and its commander is currently Major General H. Michael Edwards.
The 850th Space Communications Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was a component of the 50th Network Operations Group, 50th Space Wing, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. The squadron was activated 1 December 1997 as the 850th Communications Squadron and redesignated the 850th Space Communications Squadron on 1 October 2002. It was inactivated on 31 January 2006, most of its functions and personnel having been incorporated into the 50th Space Communications Squadron.
The 21st Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force.
The 168th Wing is a unit of the Alaska Air National Guard, stationed at Eielson Air Force Base, Fairbanks, Alaska. Before it was redesignated in February 2016, it was known as the 168th Air Refueling Wing. If activated to federal service as a USAF unit, the 168 WG is primarily gained by Pacific Air Forces, while its 213th Space Warning Squadron is gained by Air Force Space Command.
The 460th Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force. The 460th Space Wing was activated on 1 October 2001, replacing the 821st Space Group. It was inactivated on 24 July 2020 and replaced by the Buckley Garrison.
The 140th Wing is a unit of the Colorado Air National Guard, stationed at Buckley Space Force Base, Aurora, Colorado. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Combat Command.
The 2nd Space Warning Squadron is part of the Space Delta 4 at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado. It operates the Space-Based Infrared System satellites conducting global monitoring for significant infrared events.
The 6th Space Warning Squadron is located at Cape Cod Space Force Station, in Sagamore, Massachusetts, United States. It operates the PAVE PAWS radar to watch for missiles launched toward North America. The squadron is assigned to Space Delta 4. The squadron was first organized in October 1979 as the 6th Missile Warning Squadron
The 11th Space Warning Squadron is a United States Space Force missile warning squadron, located at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado.
The 7th Space Warning Squadron (SWS) is the premier Space Domain Awareness sensor on the West Coast. The unit was originally established to guard the U.S. West Coast against sea-launched ballistic missiles from the eastern outskirts of Beale Air Force Base approximately 8 miles (13 km) east of Marysville, California. 7 SWS is a geographically separated unit of Space Delta 4.
The 12th Space Warning Squadron is a United States Space Force ground-based radar used for missile warning, missile defense, and space situation awareness, stationed at Pituffik Space Base, Greenland.
The United States Air Force's 8th Space Warning Squadron is an Air Force Reserve missile warning unit located at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado. The 8th works alongside its active duty counterpart, the 2d Space Warning Squadron, on the Defense Support Program and Space-Based Infrared System programs.
The 4th Space Warning Squadron is an active United States Air Force Reserve Command unit, formerly located at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, and now located at Buckley Space Force Base. The unit was activated on August 3, 2019. It was previously activated in May 1992 as the 4th Space Communications Squadron, when it took over the mission and personnel of the 4th Satellite Communications Squadron, before being inactivated in March 1996. The squadron's primary mission is to provide mobile Defense Support Program support in case of hostilities.
The 19th Space Operations Squadron is an Air Force Reserve space operations unit, located at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado.
Space Operations Command (SpOC) is the United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command. Headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, it consists of its mission deltas, and garrison commands.
Space Delta 2 is the United States Space Force's space domain awareness and space battle management delta and is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Space Delta 2 tracks and monitors all human made objects from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit and further out to deep space. It also partners with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide weather satellite observation for the U.S. Armed Forces. It consists of the 15th Space Surveillance, 18th Space Defense Squadron, 19th Space Defense Squadron, and 20th Space Surveillance Squadron.
Space Delta 4 is a United States Space Force unit responsible for providing strategic and theater missile warning to the United States and its international partners. It operates three constellations of Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) satellites and two types of Ground-Based Radars (GBRs) for the purpose of conducting strategic and theater missile warning. Additionally, DEL 4 provides tipping and cueing to missile defense forces, battlespace awareness to combatant commanders and technical intelligence for further analysis and manages weapon system architectures and ensures operations are intelligence-led, cyber-resilient, and driven by innovation, while postured to operate in a contested, degraded, and operationally-limited environment.
Space Base Delta 2 is a unit in the United States Space Force. It is assigned to Space Operations Command and headquartered at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, United States.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency