The new branch consolidates and formalizes career paths for the Army’s space professionals. It brings together Army Space Operations Officers, currently designated as Functional Area 40, and enlisted Tactical Space Operations Specialists under the recently established Military Occupational Specialty 40D.
“Land power requires warfighting expertise in all domains. What makes me proud is that our Army is not just building a capability, we’re growing professionals at every echelon,” said Gen. Christopher LaNeve, U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff.
“That’s what the 40D MOS is about—Soldiers delivering the foundational excellence our Joint Force depends on,” LaNeve said. The Army said the Space Operations Branch is a critical component in the use of space capabilities and supports the transformation of its force structure for multidomain operations.
The service said combat credibility requires resilient space systems and dedicated counterspace capabilities to protect U.S. assets and deny adversaries the ability to target joint forces from outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Army space professionals are intended to help U.S. forces maintain the initiative and operate from positions of relative advantage across all domains.
The new branch will provide trained, ready and deployable Soldiers and formations equipped to deliver specialized capabilities for Army and joint force operations. The Army said these forces will also help deny, disrupt and degrade adversary operations within the space domain.
“The Army is the largest user of space capabilities in the joint force, and space integration is absolutely critical to multidomain operations at every echelon,” said Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, commanding general, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. “Establishing the Space Operations Branch is an important step in the Army’s continuous transformation. It provides the Army with the professional structure to deliver space-based effects directly to our Soldiers and units at the tactical edge enabling commanders to fight and win in a contested, multidomain environment.”
The Army said establishing the branch will also reduce operational pressure on the Air Defense Artillery, Signal and Military Intelligence branches. Those branches had previously provided enlisted personnel to carry out space missions on temporary tours.
The transition will allow those branches to reduce non-mission-essential billets and redistribute Soldiers to critical vacancies. The Army said the change will help optimize readiness across the wider service.
The Army currently integrates hundreds of thousands of space-enabled systems to improve maneuver and support multidomain operations. The new branch is intended to help the service keep pace with the growing space operations force structure required across the joint force, including in multidomain task forces and theater strike effects groups.
The Army said the Space Operations Branch will produce well-rounded experts able to deliver close space support and space interdiction capabilities. These capabilities are intended to support maneuver commanders as they seek to gain and maintain the initiative.
The transition will use existing training pipelines. Officer and enlisted training will continue at the Space and Missile Defense School, part of Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Center of Excellence in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Eligible Soldiers in grades E-3 through E-9 will be able to request reclassification to MOS 40D through a central selection board process. The transfer window is scheduled to open officially in October 2026, while officers may continue to request acceptance as FA40s, including through Assured Functional Area Transfer, after serving in their basic branch.
