A bipartisan delegation of Ohio lawmakers led by United States Senator Sherrod Brown called upon the Department of Defense (DoD) to locate the United States Space Force’s Space Training and Readiness Command’s Space Delta 12 in the Buckeye State.
The Push for Ohio
In a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and Chief of Space Operations General B. Chance Saltzman, the lawmakers wrote that the NASA Glenn Research Center’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility would be ideal for the Delta 12. They argue that this would give Space Force the ability to conduct testing in hypersonics, in-space propulsion, space environment simulation, and electric aircraft testing.
The lawmakers further noted that it offers one-of-a-kind, world-class space simulation test facilities that could enhance Space Force’s operational effectiveness, while Ohio is also home to numerous space and national security industries as well as world class research universities. The Neil Armstrong Test Facility is a remote campus of Glenn Research Center, and is situated on 6,700 acres in Sandusky.
“Ohio is a space state. Our state is integral to the history of flight, and because of our manufacturing prowess, federal assets, world-class research institutions, and skilled workforce, the future of aviation and space innovation will take place in Ohio,” wrote Senators Brown and J.D. Vance.
“The proximity of military and federal space-related missions in Ohio represents a unique opportunity to accelerate and grow the capabilities of the United States,” the letter added. “The confluence of missions and technologies in Ohio is unmatched and must be considered as the Air Force and Space Force reorganize to meet the requirements of an evolving Great Power Competition.”
The letter was further signed by U.S. Representatives Marcy Kaptur, Max Miller, Shontel Brown, Warren Davidson, Joyce Beatty, Bob Latta, Greg Landsman, and Emilia Sykes.
The New Delta 12
Space Delta 12 was originally activated as the United States Air Force’s 6565th Test Wing in October 1960 at Vandenberg Air Force Base California, and was re-designated as the 6565th Test Wing (Development) in December 1960. It was subsequently re-designated, this time as the 6595th Aerospace Test Wing, in April 1961. The wing was inactivated in October 1979.
In August 2021, the 6595th Aerospace Test Wing was reactivated and redesignated as Space Delta 12, Space Training and Readiness Command, United States Space Force, with the mission of test and evaluation of United States Space Force capabilities.
Four of its five squadrons – the 12th Delta Operations Squadron, the 1st Test and Evaluation Squadron, the 3rd Test and Evaluation Squadron, and the 17th Test and Evaluation Squadron – are headquartered at Schriever Space Force Base, CO, while the 4th Test and Evaluation Squadron is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, CO.
The Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility
Located about 50 miles from the main NASA John H. Glenn Research Center, the Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility specializes in very large scale tests that could be hazardous on the main campus. It is home to several major facilities that include a B-2 Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility, Combined Effects Chamber, Hypersonic Test Facility, and Space Power Facility.
In their letter, the Ohio lawmakers also noted that the Pentagon is now investing in NASA Glenn’s Hypersonic Tunnel Facility (HTC) at the Armstrong Test Facility (ATF), which is seen as crucial to the DoD’s capacity to develop large-scale hypersonic air-breathing propulsion systems.
“When complete, HTF will have the capacity to simulate hypersonic conditions at up to Mach 7,” the senators wrote. “In addition, NASA Glenn’s Space Environments Complex (SEC) houses the world’s largest and most powerful space environment simulation facilities. The Space Simulation Vacuum Chamber is the world’s largest space simulation vacuum, the Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility (RATF) is the world’s most powerful spacecraft acoustic test chamber, and the Mechanical Vibration Facility (MVF) is the world’s highest capacity and most powerful spacecraft shaker system.”
The letter further highlighted how ATF hosts the In-Space Propulsion Facility (ISP), which can conduct an altitude hot fire and is the world’s only facility capable of testing full-scale upper-stage launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated space conditions and suggested that bringing Delta 12 to NASA Glenn would allow this mission to benefit from each of these one-of-a-kind assets.
The lawmakers also argued that locating Delta 12 in Ohio will ensure the command can seamlessly collaborate with the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC), or “Delta 18” – the Pentagon’s primary source for space intelligence and the Space Force’s service intelligence center to “outwit, outreach, and win in the space domain.”
NSIC is headquartered with the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), Dayton, OH. Wright Patterson is currently the home base of 683 Guardians – approximately 8% of the Space Force’s military personnel. The base is also home to the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force.
“Ohio’s public assets are ideally suited to enhance the effectiveness of any national security space endeavor,” the senators wrote. “Ohio is home to a skilled workforce with a direct pipeline from Ohio universities to Ohio jobs.”
