U.S. ARMY SPACE OPERATIONS BADGE

The United States Army’s Space Operations Functional Area (FA40) has been closely linked to the United States Air Force since the Army’s “space cadre” was formed in 2006. This was the year that both branches of the U.S. Armed Forces authorized the Air Force Space Badge to be awarded to those U.S. Army personnel who had successfully completed prescribed training courses and had spent a requisite amount of time in a space-operations billet.

The Basic Space Badge is automatically awarded to graduates of the Army Space Operations Officer (FA-40A), and from the inception of the space cadre through April, 2011, some 1400-plus Space Badges were awarded to Army personnel.  In 2011, the Army and Air Force agreed to make the Space Badge a joint-service insignia, removing “Air Force” from the Badge title. In 2014, the title was changed gto Space Operations Badge.

Today, the Army Space Personnel Development Office is organization that processes and awards the Space Badge to qualified members of the space cadre. In just ten years, this component of the Army has grown to encompass almost 3,400 billets and some 285 active-component spaces ops officers dedicated to excellence in the five crucial space-mission areas: Space Control, Space Force Application, Space Force Enhancement, Space Situational Awareness, and Space Support.