Anonymous
Source: Regional Economic Action Coalition (REACH)
The U.S. Air Force will begin formally evaluating Vandenberg Air Force Base as the future permanent headquarters for the U.S. Space Command. The base has met the screening criteria required to move into the next phase, Air Force leadership informed base officials this week.
Vandenberg’s candidacy has garnered broad support by local and state officials — a central factor in the decision — with about a dozen letters of support from Central Coast cities and counties, Gov. Newsom, U.S. Congressman Salud Carbajal, Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, and a regional coalition of education and business groups organized by REACH.
“Vandenberg is already a key strategic asset in the nation’s space infrastructure,” REACH Vice President Andrew Hackleman said. “It also boasts the capacity and regional resources to expand its mission significantly in both national defense and commercial operations, making it the foremost candidate for Space Command headquarters.”
The Air Force expects to make a decision by early 2021, with construction expected to take six years. The future headquarters will host approximately 1,400 military and civilian personnel.
REACH is advocating for the selection of Vandenberg as Space Command headquarters as part of our larger initiative to grow commercial space activity at the base and surrounding range. Hosting the headquarters would bolster efforts to attract commercial enterprises and jobs to the region.
“These are the jobs of the future: high-paying careers in advanced manufacturing and STEM-related fields, and being home to the Space Command would further our efforts to establish a thriving spaceport at Vandenberg,” Hackleman said.
Carbajal and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) are leading the headquarters effort at the federal and state level.
“California leads the nation in aerospace engineering and innovation. Moreover, the Central Coast is home to two world-class universities which produce 9,000 STEM graduates every year. Our community is uniquely positioned to offer United States Space Command an unparalleled talent pool for defending our national interests in space,” Carbajal said. “As the prime West Coast launch site for the Department of Defense and NASA, and home of the Combined Space Operations Center, Vandenberg is the premiere choice for USSPACECOM headquarters.”
“By placing the U.S. Space Command in California, the Department of Defense would be able to leverage the most innovative, creative, collaborative and inclusive part of these United States,” said Kaina Pereira, senior advisor for business development and international trade at GO-Biz. “California has and will continue to be a place where ideas take shape, forging the future of aerospace and defense.”
Hope this happens. It’d be great all the way around. Maybe, except, if you’re a Snowy Plover…
Or, you know, any of the plethora of public sectors that don’t get enough funding because we practically throw money at anything military related. The amount of waste our military causes is disgusting. Yet we turn a blind eye in the name of freedumb and shootin guns and playin war and ‘murica – meanwhile the homeless population explodes, teachers have to buy their own school supplies, unemployed folks in a pandemic can’t get the funds they need…America is doomed
That 1,400 base personnel will become 14,000 within two decades. Lompoc’s flower and farm fields will be housing. Traffic will be very different than today, both on the ground and in the air. The HQ role will expand as components of the “Space Force” and allied air groups of the other military branches jockey to be based out of the Space Force HQ. So there’s good and bad too.
Sooooooo wonderful !!! Thank you president Trump !
We may hope that “Space Command” will return to being a ’50’s TV show for children when Trump is out of office.
Fantastic news….”Make it so”
People do evil, always have and always will. Be prepared. Wishing it away, does not make it go away. Price of freedom is constant vigilance- we can live with this. – SAC.
Sadly, you’re correct about the teachers’ union.
Justavoice: The problem I have is not with NASA. Science is worth the investment. But the conversion of NASA to Space Command is sick.
Let’s hope not. Vote
i think having space command HQ at Vandenberg would be kinda cool. Other countries are setting up space-based warfare. China and India fring anti-satellite missilies. Russia sending a mini space station. We’re going to have to be up there one way or another.
Space Command is now an official branch of the Armed Services . Does not matter who wins 2020. BTW my money in on Trump at this point.
Absolutely M-CUBED .
Maybe I am misunderstanding but I thought space was similar to “international waters”… as in it’s not really for countries to take over? Plus with satellite controlled missiles and what not don’t we already sort of have space warfare?
Schools get 50% of all state general revenues under Prop 98. How much more do you think schools should be getting. Teachers needing to buy their own supplies (and taking a tax deduction for anything they claim is necessary for their classrooms) is a function of union bargaining. There is plenty of money for schools in this state – unions decide how this is allocated. Unions put their friends on the school boards so they toally control the distribution of this very generous tax dollar allocation. Time to stop the myth – the schools don’t have any money. Pretty much a lie put out by teacher union marketing. What we don’t have, are results for the amount of money spent – latest ranking was 49 out of 50 states. This shocks the conscience. Which may be why the teacher unions want all this deflective “we need more money” marketing nonsense put out there as a cover-up.
Will it make the coast more of a target should the s*** hit the fan?
We don’t have to be “up there” in a military presence. Space WAS to be weapons free but with the fascist in the White House we have abandoned that idea. Better to have the world stand up to those who do these things than to be part of the problem and militarize another arena for humans to do evil.
The Space Command was planned long-long ago (late 80s…at least publicly). I don’t know how anyone could really believe that this was dreamed up in the past few years. If it ends up in Lompoc, it will be a huge benefit to their economy. Lompoc was preparing to become the West Coast launching area for the space shuttle, until the disaster early 1986. Lompoc wins, Santa Barbara country wins, and so does the rest of the country and world.
10:18, where do you get your false info? School spending per pupil is 29th to 40th in the nation depending on the study and whether you factor in cost of living. Educational outcomes are 41st in the nation. See a connection?