EXCLUSIVE: Space Force’s role in Iran, Venezuela raids fueling push for more resources
Space Force guardians offered essential help throughout high-profile US army operations in Iran and Venezuela — expertise that underscores the necessity for extra resources to arrange the service for future conflicts, a senior official informed DefenseScoop in an unique interview Friday.
Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Absolute Resolve had been carried out by the joint pressure in June 2025 and January 2026, respectively. Pentagon management have touted the raids — throughout which over 100 plane and weapon programs had been deployed — as proof of the division’s potential to venture army energy internationally.
But key to the success of each of these ops was management over what Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, commander of the Space Force’s Combat Forces Command, refers to as “the invisible front line” of outer area.
“In the Middle East and into South America, also on mission were people in Colorado, in Europe and in Asia — sitting crew positions that are 24/7. From these locations, they helped operate a global sensor network that enabled us to have the high ground,” Gagnon mentioned.
Combat Forces Command is the service’s subject command tasked with presenting space-based results to combatant instructions, primarily US Space Command. Guardians underneath Gagnon’s purview present capabilities essential to trendy army operations, similar to stopping communications hyperlinks from being jammed and preserving an eye fixed out for missile launches.
Following the January seize of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine highlighted Spacecom’s role in offering non-kinetic results “to create a pathway overhead” for troops throughout Operation Absolute Resolve.
At the time of the raid, guardians stationed at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado equipped satellite tv for pc communications and place, timing and navigation (PNT) knowledge to US forces, Gagnon mentioned. Notably, operators managed components of the electromagnetic spectrum to offer correct geolocation knowledge to forces deployed in US Southern Command, whereas additionally monitoring for and stopping any interference.
Gagnon famous that related overwatch capabilities had been used throughout Operation Midnight Hammer, when the Defense Department attacked nuclear services in Iran. Guardians additionally performed an important role in detecting Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes in opposition to US forces in the Middle East solely seconds after they had been launched.
“Even though that was on the other side of the planet, there were hundreds of guardians working that same 24/7 shift out of Colorado, connected with guardians who also operate in other parts of the world, working radars that deliver that immediate notification to US forces and our allies around the world,” he mentioned.
According to Gagnon, Absolute Resolve and Midnight Hammer highlighted the significance of getting superior area programs and expert operators built-in into joint operations — a message Space Force leaders have careworn because the service’s creation in 2019.
Unlike the opposite army companies, lots of the Space Force’s present missions are supporting features that occur behind the scenes. Guardians allow deployed forces by offering SATCOM, GPS navigation, missile warning and different space-based capabilities that troops depend on to function and battle efficiently.
“The heart of the matter is that America does not project military power without space being involved,” Gagnon mentioned.
The Defense Department was capable of efficiently full each raids into Venezuela and Iran by leveraging years of funding in gear and coaching in opposition to two adversaries that should not have strong area warfighting capabilities. But Gagnon warned {that a} future battle in opposition to near-peer adversaries would not be received as simply.
“What worries me is that we get too comfortable in our ability to do power projection, because often it’s against an adversary that doesn’t have a space force that will fight back,” he mentioned. “Thinking that we will own the high ground without having to fight for it is a flawed assumption, and that’s what gives me concern.”
China’s People’s Liberation Army Aerospace Force dwarfs the United States’ service. Reports estimate that Beijing at present has a minimum of 40,000 personnel in its Aerospace Force, whereas the US Space Force has round 15,000 members, Gagnon mentioned.
Furthermore, officers are involved about China’s rising arsenal of space-based capabilities — together with mega-constellations capable of monitor, observe and goal forces on Earth, novel satellites that may conduct unpredictable maneuvers on-orbit and offensive counterspace programs, in response to the Pentagon’s newest report back to Congress on army and safety developments in China.
With future conflicts in thoughts, the Space Force is taking its experiences from Absolute Resolve and Midnight Hammer and proactively working to increase each in dimension and its potential to outpace adversaries — in addition to put together for more direct conflicts that might occur on-orbit.
“What I challenge people to think about is, what do we need to seize the high ground against an adversary that may have a space force bigger than ours?” Gagnon mentioned. “That is not a simple task, and the first part of that task is recognizing that protecting and defending our assets in space is necessary, but it’s also currently insufficient.”
A key focus for the US Space Force will likely be upgrading its community of on-orbit and terrestrial sensors used to observe exercise in area, particularly in geosynchronous orbit the place a number of essential platforms are positioned, he famous.
On Feb. 12, the service launched the seventh and eighth satellites in the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) constellation, increasing its potential to keep track of objects.
But throughout that very same launch, the Space Force additionally deployed a research-and-development payload that Space Delta 9 will use to apply their ways, strategies and procedures for orbital warfare, Gagnon mentioned. Broadly, orbital warfare includes operations carried out in area that shield pleasant satellites and disrupt adversary belongings through rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), non-kinetic results similar to jamming, orbital maneuvering and more.
“What’s different about this R&D article from previous R&D articles is that this one will allow for more precise maneuvers,” he added. “It’s like the difference between taking an airliner jet with its maneuverability and moving more to a military aircraft with its maneuverability.”
The service can also be upgrading its sensing capabilities on Earth in order that it may proceed monitoring and monitoring even smaller objects orbiting in GEO, Gagnon famous. That contains creating new programs just like the Deep-space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC), in addition to modernizing components of the Space Surveillance Network (SSN).
Officials are in the method of upgrading the Ground-Based Optical Sensor System (GBOSS) telescopes that may see deep into area. Originally constructed in the Nineteen Eighties, the service is including new options that double every telescope’s subject of view and search fee, in addition to triple their sensitivity, Gagnon mentioned.
However, an inflow of recent programs may even require more guardians skilled to function them. Even although the Space Force has already surpassed its recruiting objectives for fiscal 2026, the service estimates that it might want to double in dimension to satisfy present calls for, in response to Gagnon.
“We want America to know that we are ready to deliver the high ground if tasked and asked by our chain of command. But in order to do so, we need guardians, we need resources and we need funds to do so,” he mentioned. “We are doing the best with what we’ve got, but the Space Force you have is not the Space Force you need in order to win against another country that has a formative space force.”
