1 of 3 | President Donald Trump announces U.S. Space Command headquarters will move to Huntsville, Ala., from its current location in Colorado Springs, Colo., to improve the nation’s defensive capabilities in the skies. Photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 2 (UPI) — The U.S. Space Command headquarters will relocate from Colorado to Alabama to better support advanced aerial warfare, President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.
The move will shift the U.S. Space Command headquarters from its current spot in Colorado Springs, Colo., to Huntsville, Ala., which Air Force officials identified as the command’s ideal location.
“I am thrilled to report that the U.S. Space Command will move to Huntsville, Ala., which, henceforth, will be known as ‘Rocket City,'” Trump said during a White House news conference.
The president said that during his first presidential term he intended to locate Space Command in Huntsville, but the Biden administration moved it to Colorado Springs for what Trump called “political reasons.”
The change to Huntsville will create 30,000 jobs and draw many millions of dollars in investment, Trump said.
The move also “will help the United States dominate the ‘high frontier,’ as they call it,” Trump said.
He said Space Command will develop the “Golden Dome” aerial defense system to protect against attacks by drones, missiles and aircraft.
Huntsville will enable more rapid deployment of aerial defense assets than would be possible in Colorado Springs, Trump said.
“As usual, right place, right time, for the right reasons,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters.
The move will enable the United States to stay well ahead of potential global adversaries in the development of the future of warfare, Hegseth said.
“Whoever controls the skies will control the future of warfare,” he added.
Vice President JD Vance seconded Hegseth’s comments.
“You can’t win the battle of the future, unless you control the skies,” Vance said.
He called the change a “visionary move” that will benefit the nation and is supported by Air Force leaders due to its proximity to the nation’s Redstone Arsenal.
The Redstone Arsenal is a U.S. Army base adjacent to Huntsville and home to the Army’s rocket, missile and space programs.
The first Trump administration had planned to move Space Command to Alabama, but after a 2022 report from the Government Accountability Office found fault with that conclusion.
President Joe Biden decided in 2023 to keep it in Colorado, to the chagrin of officials in Alabama.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has pushed for the move to her state even before Biden’s call to leave the base in Colorado.
“I couldn’t be more pleased to learn that Alabama will be the new home to the United States Space Command,” she posted to X in January of 2021.
However, following Biden’s decision, she posted in May of 2023 that “Alabama is the only rightful home for Space Force Command Headquarters, and supporting this mission is critical to the advancement of our national security.”
In April, Kay signed a resolution that urged Space Force Command Headquarters to be permanently established in Huntsville.
Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville introduced a resolution in the Senate in January that “encourages President Donald J. Trump and his incoming second Presidential administration to halt the Biden administration’s disastrous decision and immediately proceed in establishing a permanent headquarters for United States Space Command at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.”