Air Force to Launch Space Operations Group

This photo, provided by the Air Force on June 28, 2024, shows military personnel at the Space Operations Squadron. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)

SEOUL, Jun. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The military will expand a squadron-level unit for space operations into the Space Operations Group, the Air Force said Friday, in an effort to raise its operational efficiency in the crucial security domain.

A ceremony marking the launch of the group-level unit will take place at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, later in the day, according to the Air Force. The Space Operations Group is slated to officially launch Sunday.

The envisioned unit will focus on strengthening the response against space threats, as well as capabilities in identifying enemy, information in carrying out the Kill Chain preemptive strike platform and the Korea Air and Missile Defense system, pillars of South Korea’s three-pronged deterrence system.

The Space Operations Group also plans to join the U.S. Space Command-led Joint Commercial Operations Cell, a network encompassing the military, as well as academia and business, which is tasked with identifying and analyzing potential counterspace activity.

“The establishment of the Space Operations Group has formed the foundation for the Air Force to support multidomain operations in space,” said Col. Lee Hyun-woo, tapped as the chief of the expanded unit.

The move comes 1 1/2 years after the Air Force integrated existing units to launch the Space Operations Squadron in December 2022, as South Korea seeks to bolster defense capabilities in the increasingly important security domain.

The country placed its second military spy satellite in space in April to bolster its space-based surveillance of North Korea and deter its nuclear and missile threats amid Pyongyang’s own push to launch more satellites.

North Korea launched its first military spy satellite in November and has vowed to put three more into orbit this year.

(Yonhap)