Space Force components building up units to ‘surge’ forward

U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Dennis Bythewood pins a Joint Service Achievement Medal on U.S. Army Maj. Andres Morales during an awards ceremony at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., Feb. 27, 2026. (U.S. Space Force photo by Todd R. Berenger)

By Courtney Albon • Mar 16, 2026

As Space Force leaders call for the service to double in size in the coming years, the commander in charge of presenting forces to U.S. Space Command said part of that growth will need to go toward increasing the footprint of forward-operating units.

Lt. Gen. Dennis O. Bythewood, commander of U.S. Space Forces-Space, said during a March 13 event with AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies that the service’s components under each of the combatant commands are building out Space Support Teams comprised of Guardians who will “surge” to forward operating locations during conflict.

“As we walked forward and stood up U.S. Space Force components—now with almost every combatant command around the planet—each one of those was sized to get off the ground and start doing the integrated work that we’ve seen,” Bythewood said. “But we already see that in stressing times, we’re having to surge people forward.”