Colorado Springs still vital to military space industry, leaders say, even after Space Command move

When talking about the future of the space industry in Colorado Springs, a group of defense contractors and a retired four-star general did not take long to mention the upcoming move of the U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama. 

“It is the elephant in the room,” said retired Air Force Gen. and former Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Hyten. 

President Donald Trump announced Space Command would be leaving Colorado Springs for Huntsville last September. The announcement concluded a years-long back-and-forth battle between the two cities to host the command, as well as the jobs and investment it would bring.

Nevertheless, the group speaking to reporters at this week’s Space Symposium at the Broadmoor sought to reassure residents: Colorado Springs remains the country’s central hub for military space operations. 

“U.S. SpaceCom may be leaving Colorado to Huntsville, but what is not leaving is all of the operational units that support U.S. Space Command,” said Art Louriero, Chair of the Colorado Aerospace and Defense Council and Director of Space Defense Solutions at military tech firm L3Harris.

Half of all Space Force personnel still reside in Colorado, a workforce only expected to grow. The region’s five military bases control the world’s GPS systems and most other military satellite communications. Important missions like NORAD and U.S. Northern Command remain here. All of that infrastructure has been built up over the course of decades and is unlikely to be going anywhere, according to Gen. Hyten. 

“It's almost impossible to move because the data lines that feed everything from space, from ground, et cetera, all come through this area,” said Hyten, who, while raised in Huntsville, moved to Colorado Springs after his retirement in 2021. He is currently Board Chair of the Space Foundation, which puts on the annual symposium in Colorado Springs.

Still, the move of Space Command is a loss, Hyten said. A combatant command is made up of about 1,500 military and civilian employees. Some of that staff will move, and the military is offering hefty bonuses for those willing to do so. But, Hyten said his past involvement with moving commands leads him to expect the number who make that move will likely not exceed 50 people. The rest will be new hires in Huntsville, and those remaining in Colorado Springs will find other work, he predicted.

When Hyten retired in 2021, he said the budget for the Space Force was $16 billion. This year, its budget is $75 billion. By its very design, Space Command will likely not grow beyond its current 1,500 employees. 

“Space Command is not going to double in size. It's not going to triple in size, but the Space Force is going to,” Hyten said. “And this entire community will explode, continue to explode as it has been.”

Managing that explosive growth will be the challenge for Colorado Springs, he said, not its decline.