Space Delta 8 (DEL 8) is the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and the world's only independent space force. Along with its sister branch, the U.S. Air Force, the Space ...

unit responsible for

satellite communications A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. ...

and position, navigation, and timing. The Delta operates, among other

constellations A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellation ...

, the

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

for both military and civilian users. It is headquartered at

Schriever Space Force Base Schriever Space Force Base, previously Schriever Air Force Base, Falcon Air Force Base, and Falcon Air Force Station, is a base of the United States Space Force located approximately east of Peterson Space Force Base near Colorado Springs in ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

History

Before the founding of an independent Space Force, the

Air Force Space Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

's (AFSPC) 50th Operations Group (50 OG), part of the 50th Space Wing, performed the satellite communications and position, navigation, and timing missions. As part of the reorganization in the stand-up of Space Force, 50 OG was inactivated and DEL 8 was activated on 24 July 2020. On 8 February 2022, the 50th Operations Support Squadron was inactivated and the

8th Combat Training Squadron 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

was activated. In September 2021, the Space Force publicly identified Army and Navy SATCOM units that would transfer to DEL 8. On 6 June 2022, the Naval Satellite Operations Center transferred as the 10th Space Operations Squadron, followed on 29 June 2022 by the Army's 53rd Signal Battalion, which became the 53rd Space Operations Squadron. On 7 July 2022, Colonel David Pheasant, a former Army officer who had once commanded the 53rd Signal Battalion, took command of DEL 8, becoming the first inter-service transfer officer to command a Space Force Delta.

Structure

DEL 8 comprises five squadrons, two of which have non-Air Force lineages (10 SOPS Navy; 53 SOPS Army):

List of commanders

References

External links

Space Delta 8 Fact Sheet
{{United States Space Force Deltas of the United States Space Force

History

Structure

List of commanders

See also

References

External links