REDSTONE ARSENAL, Alabama -- For 60 years the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command and its predecessors have served the nation advancing space and missile defense capabilities.
USASMDC/ARSTRAT began with its missile defense mission Oct. 3, 1957, when the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps established the Redstone Anti-Missile Missile Systems Office to oversee the development of the Army's first missile defense system, Nike-Zeus. While RAMMSO was the first Army organization specifically created to administer a missile defense program, that mission has passed through many hands and changed direction often throughout the past 60 years.
From 1958 to 1968, the command went through many iterations to include: a component of the Army Rocket and Guided Missile Agency ; the Nike-Zeus Project Office; the Nike-X Project Office; the U.S. Army Sentinel System Command; and the Safeguard System Command.
"As the deployment of the Safeguard System continued, the command began to address the next generation requirements with HardSite Defense and Site Defense programs," said Sharon Watkins Lang , SMDC historian. "In March 1974, the deputy secretary of Defense established guidelines to reorganize the Army's ballistic missile defense efforts."
To reflect the broader focus of the missile defense program, the U.S. Army Safeguard System Command became the Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Command May 20, 1974.
"All BMD components reported to the Ballistic Missile Defense Program Manager and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said Watkins Lang. "At the same time, the Army established a new and separate command under the BMD Program Office called the Ballistic Missile Defense Advanced Technology Center."
Following the announcement of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization was realigned with this new missile defense concept. Effective July 1, 1985, the BMD Program Office became the Headquarters, U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command. Six months later, BMDSCOM and the BMDATC were discontinued and merged into USASDC.
"As part of a 1992 Army reorganization, USASDC's project and program offices were transferred to what is now Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space," Watkins Lang said. "They transferred the Ground Based interceptor, Ground Based Radar, High Endoatmospheric Defense Interceptor, Ground-based Surveillance and Tracking System, Extended Range Interceptor, and the Theater High Altitude Area Defense, among others."
In addition, the U.S. Army Space Command became a subordinate command of the new U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command.
"This move elevated the Army space program to the same level as its service counterparts," Watkins Lang said. "Over the next several years the command gained other Army space programs such as the Army Space Technology Research Office and the Army Space Program Office."
In February 1997, USASSDC and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command signed a memorandum of agreement that made the command the Army specified proponent for space and national missile defense and the overall Army integrating command for theater missile defense.
"In March 1998, these missions were documented in General Order 5, effective Oct. 1, 1997," Watkins Lang said. "In addition to specifying the proponency missions, the general order renamed the command the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and elevated it from a field operating agency to a major Army command."
Effective July 1, 2003, USASMDC became the Army Service Component Command to the U.S. Strategic Command. In conjunction with this new mission, the commanding general adopted the name U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command to reflect the dual mission and the dual reporting chains. This relationship and name designation was not formalized until 2006 when the Army issued a new general order.
A third element was added in January 2005 when USSTRATCOM designated the SMDC commander as the commander of the newly created Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense.
Author's note: There will be other articles throughout October discussing different aspects of USASMDC/ARSTRAT's history.
Social Sharing