iscover
Defence has announced it will soon begin targeted recruitment for a purpose-built space workforce for the Australian Defence Force.
The 2024 Defence Workforce Plan highlighted the need to recruit and retain highly specialised personnel for emerging capabilities, including space.
To meet the demands of the evolving space domain, Defence will soon begin targeted recruitment and training for highly specialised roles to grow its existing space workforce across areas, including satellite communications and operations, position, navigation and timing, intelligence and surveillance.
Defence’s current space workforce consists of diverse Navy, Army and Air Force personnel. From 2026, Air Force direct entry will be available for roles including space operations specialist and space operations officers.
“Our region is rapidly evolving, and space is a critical operational domain. By establishing a permanent space workforce, we are preparing Defence to lead, integrate and innovate in this contested and congested environment,” said Minister for Defence Personnel Matt Keogh, who has previously visited the Joint Commercial Operations Pacific Cell.
“Space capabilities will play a critical role in the execution of activities as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 alongside existing operational domains of maritime, land, air and cyber.
“People are at the centre of our advantage. Defence is building a sustainable space workforce through targeted recruitment, career pathways and joint training.
“The evolving space domain demands highly specialised roles and will provide our people with opportunities to shape how Australia operates in space.”
Emerging space capabilities are a focus of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, with Defence personnel working alongside international partners to conduct real-time and on-demand space demonstration exercises in Townsville.
During the exercise, personnel will use commercially available data to provide timely and accurate reporting on space events and activities to support military operations.
The evolving space domain demands highly specialised roles, requiring targeted career development and training continuums.
The workforce will eventually cover the full spectrum of space mission sets, including satellite communications, position, navigation and timing, space domain awareness, missile warning, satellite operations, space control, environmental monitoring and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
An Australian Defence Force career in space operations would potentially offer working with satellite systems and commercial partners, contributing to joint and coalition operations, members will be part of a frontier mission at the intersection of science, strategy and service.
This purpose‑built space workforce would continue to work alongside Australian industry and commercial operations to deliver the capabilities and outcomes required by Australia’s strategic circumstances.
In 2023, Space Command formally shifted from operating within the Air Force to being within the ADF’s Joint Capabilities Group.
The move – revealed as part of the DSR into the military – was part of a broader shake-up that saw the newly formed No. 1 Space Surveillance Unit (1SSU) assume operation of Defence’s space domain awareness capabilities.
The Labor federal government hoped the combined changes would “increase the importance” of Space Command and allow it to integrate better with other military branches.
The DSR – penned by former defence minister Stephen Smith and former defence chief Sir Angus Houston – also said a method should be established for building and sustaining a trained Defence space workforce, including a defined career path.
Defence Space Commander Major General Gregory Novak had previously declared that Space Command is now an equal partner to the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Talking at the SIAA’s annual conference in 2024, the service’s chief said he “personally doesn’t like the term of space as an enabler” because it doesn’t “cover the full root of what we do”.
“We do much more than enable. We are a peer operationally of the other domains of maritime, air and land, and we make equally significant contributions,” he said.
“We are in a much more contested and congested space at home than we’ve been in the past, and all the indicators are that trend will continue into the future.”
