New Space Force STARCOM commander Maj. Gen. James Smith takes a ceremonial guidon from Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, as previous STARCOM commander Maj. Gen. Timothy Sejba looks on during an event at Patrick Space Force Base on Friday, July 18, 2025. It's the first time a command change has taken place in Florida for STARCOM, since moving its headquarters from Colorado to the Space Coast. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)
PATRICK SPACE FORCE BASE, Fla. (Tribune News Service) — The Space Force presence on the Space Coast is beginning to swell as one of its major units, STARCOM, had its first change-of-command ceremony since its headquarters moved from Colorado to Florida.
Major Gen. James Smith on Friday became the third-ever commander of STARCOM, which stands for Space Training and Readiness Command, one of only three command units under Space Force. He takes over for Maj. Gen. Timothy Sejba, who oversaw the command’s initial steps as it began to take shape in Brevard County.
“As I assume command, how fitting that I do so on the Space Coast, the home of the Eastern launch range and now home of STARCOM headquarters,” Smith said while addressing Sejba during a ceremony at Patrick SFB. “You’ve created the foundation. You ensured the command is fueled and ready to be the liftoff point for our guardians. Like a launch, we now must accelerate the command, moving beyond the solid foundation of the path to a higher and ever more mission ready state.”
Smith accepted the ceremonial guidon, a symbolic pennant, from Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force Chief of Space Operations.
“This command has been ever accelerating because of the evolution of technology across the space business, coupled with the surge of conflict around the globe, all while our adversaries continue to test our mettle with increasingly aggressive and sometimes irresponsible actions on orbit,” Saltzman said.
The Space Force was stood up as its own military branch in 2019, but falls under the Air Force in the same manner the Marines fall under the Department of the Navy. It now has about 15,000 service members, who are called guardians.
STARCOM headquarters, which for now has just under 100 service members on site, will grow to more than 400 personnel on the Space Coast while one of its five deltas, similar to an Air Force wing, has also begun to set up shop at Patrick SFB. Space Delta 10: Doctrine and Wargaming is expected to grow to 150 more personnel in the next several years.
The two groups share space with Space Launch Delta 45, which runs both Patrick SFB and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but falls under the Space Operations Command of Space Force. Also at Patrick SFB is the Air Force Technical Applications Center, which oversees nuclear treaties around the world, and the Air Force 920th Rescue Wing.
For Smith, the return to Patrick SFB is a homecoming. He and his wife were stationed there from 2012-2014, when he was an Air Force squadron commander with four children attending area elementary, middle and high schools before he transferred to the Pentagon.
“We got to know the Space Coast and Brevard County quite well as we traversed the region weekly for any number of school, church and other activities. It was a great community in which to spend those two years,” he said. “As we drove away, 11 years ago, I never thought we’d have the privilege to come back.”
While his personal life has changed dramatically, including recently becoming a grandfather, he said the professional changes are just as dramatic.
“Who could have imagined in 2014 that I stand here today under the title guardian in a sharp and distinctive uniform, taking command of something we call a field command within a brand new military service? I’ll guarantee those thoughts weren’t anywhere in my head as we drove our Odyssey up I-95 toward the Pentagon,” he said. “The world’s a different place than it was then. We face peer and near-peer adversaries who challenged in new, complex and sophisticated ways. I definitely did not foresee how dramatically and rapidly the very character of warfare would evolve.”
He hammered home the demands of a world under constant surveillance, the threat of electronic warfare and the need for nations to rely on the “space domain, where threats to operations and missions are increasing exponentially.”
And he said he’s driven to ensure his new command trains every member of Space Force to face down that threat.
“That’s the heartbeat of STARCOM’s mission. We exist to forge combat-credible space forces ready to fight and win the joint war,” he said. “Fight hinges on our success, and we cannot and will not fail.”
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