Gray Rohrer
Florida’s top aerospace and defense industry boosters, led by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, are asking U.S. Air Force leaders to put a new space training headquarters in the Space Coast.
The newly created military branch Space Force is considering where to place the home of its Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) and in April it narrowed its search to six locations in three states: California, Colorado and Florida.
Nuñez, who is the Chair of Space Florida, the state’s public-private group that provides financing and infrastructure to the aerospace industry, is also requesting Cape Canaveral and Patrick Space Force Base be considered for the Space Delta 13 education and training facility.
“Locating STARCOM and Space Delta 13 in Florida means tapping the most innovative military training technology hub in the country, accessing an experienced and trained national security workforce, leveraging unique financing opportunities to reduce long-term operational costs, and an overall infrastructure that is made for space,” Nuñez wrote to U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
She also highlighted Florida’s “excellent quality of life and a favorable economic environment” as well as its aerospace industry infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral as well as the nearby University of Central Florida’s production of aerospace graduates.
“It all began in 1950 with a rocket launch in Cape Canaveral,” Nuñez wrote Friday. “The brightest minds, the biggest ideas, and the most dedicated public servants who pushed the boundaries of what was considered possible. Since then, Florida has been the place where most of the nation’s space innovation ideas are generated, fostered, and brought to fruition.”
In addition to Nuñez, members of the Florida Defense Support Task Force, a state board created to protect and support military installations in the state, urged Air Force leaders to move STARCOM to Florida.
The Space Force is the sixth and newest branch of the U.S. military. It was created three years ago under the Donald Trump administration and states with Space Force bases or ties to the aerospace industry have been vying for the placement of major installations in their areas.
