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(CN) — Congressional representatives in Alabama, where more than 64% of voters supported President Donald Trump in 2024, are increasingly confident Trump will reward their loyalty by prioritizing an administrative plan to move the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado to Redstone Arsenal in the city of Huntsville.
In a phone call with Alabama media today, Senator Tommy Tuberville said he feels “very good about” the prospect. Tuberville further suggested he discussed the move during a two-hour breakfast with Trump on Jan. 17, but the president needed to “work through all the details” before an official decision could be announced. Still, Tuberville said he expects a “very happy ending.”
SPACECOM, as it is known, is currently a division of the U.S. Space Force that was revived during Trump’s first term in 2019 with the mission of providing a unified command for military and defense assets in space. Its headquarters was initially established at Peterson AFB, but the secretary of the Air Force recommended the move to Redstone in a report released in January 2021.
The report ranked Redstone as the preferred alternative above existing military installments in Albuquerque, Bellevue, Nebraska, Cape Canaveral, Colorado Springs and San Antonio, Texas. The sites were scored on criteria such as the size and qualifications of the local workforce, the quality of schools, infrastructure, and proposed immediate and long-term costs.
The plan was later scrutinized but endorsed by the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General.
But in 2023, amid a monthslong standoff where Tuberville used his position in the Senate to block the promotion and confirmation of military leaders as part of his opposition to a military policy allowing for financial reimbursement to servicemembers for travel to obtain an abortion or other reproductive health care, the Biden administration rescinded the plan.
After Trump’s reelection in November, Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, predicted relocating SPACECOM headquarters to Huntsville would be among the first official acts of the president’s second term. A second source familiar with discussions between Trump and the Alabama congressional delegation said Wednesday the president has assured “he will make the move soon.”
On Jan. 13, the fourth anniversary of the Air Force secretary’s report, Tuberville joined Senator Katie Britt and Representative Dale Strong, both Republicans, in introducing resolutions to recognize Redstone Arsenal as the preferred location. The resolutions note that Peterson AFB finished fifth in the base rankings.
“The headquarters of U.S. Space Command belongs on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and our resolution recognizes the Air Force’s original decision,” Britt said in a statement. “Huntsville finished first in both the Air Force’s Evaluation Phase and Selection Phase, leaving no doubt the Air Force’s decision to choose Redstone as the preferred basing location was correct purely on the merits.”
Redstone Arsenal is a 38,000-acre U.S. Army base that also serves as a research, development, testing, and engineering center for tenants including the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, NASA, Blue Origin and the FBI, which has spent several billion dollars in recent years expanding its footprint at Redstone.
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