(Tribune News Service) — The first leader of the U.S. Space Force’s Pacific command officially ended his tenure in Hawaii on Friday in a change of command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Maj. Gen. Anthony “Chachi ” Mastalir handed over command of U.S. Space Forces Indo-­Pacific to Brig. Gen. Brian Denaro after three years of overseeing the missions of U.S. military’s youngest branch’s across the Pentagon’s largest area of operations.

It was the service’s first regional command, before that Space Force personnel answered directly to Air Force commanders.

Space Force commandant Gen. Chance Saltzman, who attended the ceremony Friday and gave remarks, said that “as the first leader of this new command, (Maj.) Gen. Mastalir faced unique challenges. In addition to growing the size and scope of the organization itself, I charged him to build concepts for space, enabling war fighting, formalizing exercises and war games to meet combat and command objectives and building the partnerships that are so crucial to our mutual security.”

The change of command took place as the Department of the Air Force — which includes the Space Force — is holding a massive exercise that has brought 400 aircraft and thousands of troops into islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. That includes nearly 700 Space Force personnel, which are known as guardians.

Saltzman said that Mastalir “set the tone for space warfighting in this part of the globe, and proved the unique utility of the Space Force component Command so that we can apply the same model worldwide. Since then, we’ve established similar component commands supporting U.S. interests in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and in the continental United States, all to great effect for our joint partners.”

It’s a far cry from how things began when Mastalir first arrived in Hawaii.

“If I’m being honest, the early days of this command were a little like the reality TV show ‘Survivor, ’” said Mastalir. “Dropped into a remote island, you gather a handful of junior grade operators and you set out to build a component, but you have no real property, you have no kit and you have no money. But what we did have was an idea : an idea that space is a war fighting domain of great consequence.”

The Space Force was first stood up in December 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Aggressively pushed by Trump, the effort to establish a new military branch was immediately controversial.

The modern global economy increasingly relies on satellites in space to function, with everything from ship navigation to cellphones reliant on these systems.

There are several international treaties agreeing not to militarize space, but the definitions of what actually counts as “militarization ” or “space weapons ” has never been internationally agreed upon — and has been hotly disputed. In practice, nearly all modern militaries at least use various forms of satellite-based communication and surveillance. Many have also developed anti-satellite missiles and satellite communications jammers.

In recent years the Ukrainian military has been able to use Starlink — a system of satellites owned an operated by billionaire Elon Musk’s company SpaceX — to gain an edge as they fight back invading Russian forces. But that advantage has at times been lost when Musk has ordered the company to cut Ukrainian forces off from the network at critical times, such as in September 2022 as they were in the midst of trying to retake captured territory from Russian troops.

Before coming to Hawaii, Mastalir had previously worked on space operations over the Middle East, supporting the war against ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria and operations in Afghanistan — including the chaotic and bloody 2021 evacuation.

He said that when he arrived in the islands “we hadn’t yet finalized the basing process. We had no predecessor, no war fighting doctrine, no assumed battle rhythm, no precedent, just a mission — vital, overdue and rapidly expanding — and a small but driven team tasked with turning that blank page into an operational reality.”

In the Pacific, the U.S. military is deeply reliant on space systems. Saltzman said that “the vast oceans and limited land masses of the Pacific make for a uniquely challenging operational environment, everything from communications to intelligence to targeting becomes exponentially more difficult across those distances.”

The Air Force historically took on most of the U.S. military’s space missions, including from facilities in Hawaii. But proponents of forming the Space Force argued that satellite systems used for communication, surveillance and other functions are so critical enough that a separate force was needed to manage, operate and protect them — while also keeping tabs of those from potential enemies.

In time the idea of a Space Force gained bipartisan support from U.S. lawmakers, and several other countries have built up space forces of their own.

Mastalir said that “it is a guardian on the space watch who is the first to know when a missile launches out of North Korea or China and where it is likely to impact. It is a guardian who can assess the integrity of joint force satellite communications, position navigation, timing signals and ensure that the space layer can support U.S. power projection throughout the region. And it is a guardian who understands our adversaries’ space dependencies and how best to break those long range kill chains.”

China has also been building up its military space capabilities extensively with an eye on the Pacific.

Saltzman said that “we see continuous efforts by our adversaries to gain a foothold in the region, to challenge our freedom to operate within the bounds of international law. They’re also actively working at breakneck speed to roll out the technological innovations that they need to degrade our military capabilities in this dynamic and high stakes environment.”

During his tenure in the Pacific, Mastalir worked closely with allied militaries, sending his troops around the region and bringing theirs into the fold in Hawaii. They have been holding exchanges with Australia and even have an Australian officer serving as a deputy commander for U.S. space operation in the region.

“Our allies have rightly observed that navigating the U.S. space enterprise can be confusing, but Space Force Service components today serve as the front door ready to make connections necessary and guide our regional allies and partner, ” said Mastalir. “We work here, we live here, we share the same security environment. We are present. Presence is a necessary precondition to building trust.”

Denaro — whose father helped design and launch the world’s first GPS satellite — comes to Hawaii from the Pentagon, but has extensive experience in the Pacific. He was an Olmstead scholar in China and his two teenage children were born in Hawaii.

“They have both returned to their birthplace, ” said Denaro. “Hawaii indeed holds a special place in our hearts. It’s great to be back in the Indo Pacific. I’ve spent nearly half my career stationed in this in this theater, and mostly all of my career focused critically on this theater. This is a critical time. These are critical threats. In this vast Indo-­Pacific region, where distances are great and stakes even greater, Space Forces Indo-­Pacific will remain the mighty watchful eye.”

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