Mission
18th Space Defense Squadron, Detachment 1 (18 SDS Det 1), located at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, is subordinate to the 18th Space Defense Squadron out of Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, both of which fall under Space Operations Command’s Mission Delta 2 (MD2). 18 SDS Det 1 provides combat focused understanding of on-orbit adversary threats within operationally relevant timelines in support of space superiority operations. Guardians of 18 SDS Det 1 are integrated with the National Space Defense Center (NSDC) which is a partnership organization, strongly supported by both the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community, that develops and improves U.S. ability to rapidly detect, warn, characterize, attribute and defend against threats to our nation's vital space systems.
In unified action with mission partners, 18 SDS Det 1 delivers timely and threat-focused understanding of the space situation in direct support of the NSDC’s protect and defend mission. The Detachment provides a crew force to perform service-provided Space Domain Awareness (SDA) functions on NSDC designated objects of interest in support of the combatant command.
Location
18 SDS Det 1 is co-located with the NSDC at Schriever SFB, Colorado.
History
18 SDS Det 1 was activated during an assumption of command ceremony at Schriever SFB, CO on July 14, 2022. The inaugural Detachment Commander was U.S. Space Force Major Nathan Glandon.
In June 2024 the detachment redesignated as Delta 2, Detachment 1 in a move to better align Detachment capabilities, readiness, and deterrence in the space domain. The Detachment was then redesignated back underneath the 18 SDS in June 2025.
Updated July 2025