Led by the Chief of the Air Staff, the renamed headquarters will continue to oversee UK Space Command and the RAF groups responsible for delivering air power and training personnel. UK Space Command safeguards British and allied interests in space while enabling UK forces to operate globally.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, Chief of the Air Staff, said: “Space is essential to defence, security, prosperity, and our modern way of life. But it is also a domain of growing strategic competition.”
The redesignation reflects the growing dependence of air operations on satellites and other space-based capabilities. Smyth said: “The RAF’s core mission of gaining and maintaining control of the air is fundamentally dependant on our freedom of action in and through the space domain.”
The new structure is intended to place space planning and delivery at the same senior level as activity in other military domains. “It is now more important than ever for space power to be planned and delivered through the highest levels of military leadership, like all other domains.”
Air & Space Command will be responsible for connecting that strategic leadership with the delivery of operational capability. “Our new HQ Air & Space Command will lead the delivery of space power with the same dedication that it leads for the air domain.”
Under Britain’s Lead Command Model, individual military commands take responsibility for capabilities and activities that support the whole of defence. The RAF’s appointment to lead space draws on its historic involvement in the domain, including the establishment of the ballistic-missile early-warning system at RAF Fylingdales in 1963 and the launch of the SKYNET 1A satellite in 1969.
RAF High Wycombe has served as a centre of British air-power command since Bomber Command relocated there in 1938. The site later hosted Strike Command, formed by merging Bomber and Fighter commands in 1968, before Strike Command combined with Personnel and Training Command to create Air Command in 2007.
UK Space Command was established under Air Command in 2021 as the importance of space to military operations and everyday life continued to grow. The redesignation in 2026 marks the latest stage in the headquarters’ evolution from managing air operations alone to leading Britain’s military activity across both air and space.
