Army looks to space for 600 new soldier jobs

The Army has shifted more than 600 soldiers into a new space operations career field as the service builds a force focused on helping ground troops fight in a domain increasingly contested by U.S. adversaries.

The soldiers reclassified Thursday as 40D Tactical Space Operations Specialists, establishing the enlisted ranks of the Army’s new Space Operations Branch, Army Space and Missile Defense Command said.

Nearly 3,000 soldiers applied for the jobs.

“The Army is the largest user of space capabilities in the joint force, and space integration is absolutely critical to multidomain operations at every echelon,” Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, commander of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said in a statement.

The move gives the Army a permanent cadre of enlisted space specialists at a time when satellites have become intertwined with how soldiers fight.

American forces depend heavily on satellites to communicate across long distances, maneuver, find targets and collect intelligence. At the same time, adversaries like Russia and China also are building up such capabilities and are focusing on how to jam and disrupt the types of systems U.S. forces rely on.

The space specialists will work in areas including satellite communications, navigation warfare, counter-sensing and “stratospheric warfare,” the Army said. The job also involves helping commanders operate when access to space systems is degraded.

The initial group of more than 600 soldiers was drawn from military intelligence, air defense artillery and signal units, although the specialty is open to soldiers from across the service, the Army said.

Previously, enlisted soldiers from other career fields were temporarily assigned to space jobs before eventually returning to their original branches. By making the new specialty a career path, the Army is expected to better retain experienced personnel, who previously moved on after temporary stints in space operations.

The Army has forecast the job field to expand to about 1,500 soldiers by 2032.

The soldiers undergo training at the Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence in Colorado Springs.

“Our space operations Soldiers bring unmatched value to the Army and joint force because of the education and training they receive to execute space integration and interdiction missions,” said Col. Felix Torres, commandant of the center, in the Army statement.