The Space National Guard is a proposed reserve component of the U.S. Space Force. If established, it would incorporate existing Air National Guard and Army National Guard members already performing space-related duties. Key functions would include missile warning, space domain awareness, satellite command and control, and space electromagnetic warfare. The Space National Guard aims to support the Space Force's mission and maintain readiness without requiring new personnel, units, or facilities.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Trump is likely to revive efforts to establish a Space National Guard despite concerns about cost and bureaucracy.
Sen. Marco Rubio and a bipartisan group of 11 senators reintroduced the Space National Guard Establishment Act of 2024 on 2024-01-31.
The NDAA does not establish a Space National Guard and directs a feasibility study on the consolidation or transfer of space functions of the National Guard to the Space Force.
The final 2024 NDAA deferred the decision to establish a separate Space National Guard and directed further study on the issue.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2024 NDAA does not include language to establish a Space National Guard, unlike the House Armed Services Committee’s version.
When the U.S. Space Force was established in December 2019, active duty space units were moved out of the Air Force and placed in the Space Force without creating a corresponding Space National Guard component.
House members Jason Crow (D-Colo.) and Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) introduced a new version of the Space National Guard bill 2023-05 that would establish space units in seven states and Guam.
The Department of the Air Force drafted a March 2021 report recommending establishing a Space National Guard with minimal or no new cost and transferring space-duty units under the Air National Guard.
The 2023 NDAA does not authorize a Space National Guard and would consider establishing the Space Force as a single component with full-time and part-time members as proposed by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
The Senate version of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act does not include any language establishing a Space National Guard.
Lamborn and Crow’s bill to establish a Space National Guard was adopted in the House version of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
The U.S. Space Force was established in 2019 as an independent military service and active-duty space units were moved out of the Air Force into the new Space Force without creating a Space National Guard.
Frank Kendall's 2022-04-01 proposal did not recommend establishing a Space National Guard and recommended giving current Air and Army Guard members who support Space Force operations the option of joining the Space Force active component.
The House version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act would have created a Space National Guard but the Senate did not support it and the provision was removed from the final compromise bill.
An earlier version of the proposal submitted on 2022-04-01 and rejected by the White House had recommended a two-component construct combining the regular Space Force and Air Force Reserve space professionals into a combined component and creating a single reserve component Space National Guard generated by seamless transition of current Air National Guard units performing space missions.
The compromise National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 removed language that would have created a Space National Guard.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2022 NDAA did not include language to establish a Space National Guard.
Representative Doug Lamborn and Representative Jason Crow introduced legislation on 2021-08-30 to establish a Space National Guard as a reserve component of the U.S. Space Force.
The CBO estimate contradicts the National Guard Bureau’s argument that establishing a Space National Guard would not create additional costs because people and resources would be transferred from existing organizations.
CBO estimated that transferring 1,500 personnel from existing Air National Guard and Army National Guard units to a new Space National Guard would generate about $100,000,000 in annual operations and support costs and about $20,000,000 in onetime construction costs for additional facilities.