Move over Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal? New state wants Space Command HQ

The tussle over where to locate Space Command headquarters is no longer a two-horse race.

The Senate armed services committee received a petition Monday calling for U.S. Space Command to take up a permanent home at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

That state’s legislators approved a joint resolution in December outlining the merits of Wright-Patterson, which has now come before senators as well as the U.S. House of Representatives, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The U.S. Air Force named Redstone Arsenal the “preferred location” in 2021 for a permanent headquarters for the newly formed Space Command. The command had been temporarily housed at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. – which is still its location after President Joe Biden’s 2023 decision for it to remain there rather than move it to Alabama.

Space Command is charged with defending space and delivering space capabilities to joint and combined U.S. and allied forces. Locating the command in Huntsville would bring at least 1,600 new jobs, AL.com reported.

The Ohio resolution fails to mention any of that, merely noting the command “is temporarily located in Colorado” and the government “has not made a final decision regarding the final permanent location for Space Command headquarters.”

The Huntsville Times reported in November that two mandated reviews of the Air Force’s selection process for the headquarters site were overdue, with no firm timeline for completion.

The Ohio document is unlikely to alter the standoff between Alabama and Colorado. It is a petition, not a resolution, and it comes before a Senate committee with at least one strong advocate for Redstone – and no members from the Buckeye State.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville sites on the Senate committee as well as its subcommittees on strategic forces and readiness. Those assignments give him broad say in matters of base realignment as well as a role in oversight of U.S. Space Command.

Both of Alabama’s senators — Tuberville and Sen. Katie Britt — joined Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, in introducing a resolution last month calling on President Donald Trump to “immediately proceed” to establish U.S. Space Command’s permanent headquarters at Redstone Arsenal.

Tuberville has regularly called for Biden’s move to be reversed. Likewise, Britt has said moving the headquarters to Alabama would be one of her policy priorities.