A former longtime Army officer took the helm of the Peterson and Schriever Space Force bases on Thursday, along with other installations in Hawaii, New Hampshire and Greenland.
As Commander of Space Base Delta 1, Col. Kenneth Klock will oversee over 4,300 people, who provide seven Space Force installations with support services, such as civil engineering and medical support. He is replacing Col. David Hanson and becomes the fourth person to hold the role.
Klock transferred into the Space Force from the Army two years ago and most recently served as the commandant of the National Security Space Institute. He has worked in space-focused positions since 2006.
He said he was inspired to transfer into the Space Force in part after hearing the former Chief of Space Operations, Gen. John Raymond, talk about the need for greater diversity from different service branches in the Space Force.
“I thought I had some warfighting culture to share,” Klock said.
Military operations in space have become more tense in recent years, with China investing heavily in new satellites.
Klock started out as an armor officer and deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a battle major for the multinational force. After transitioning to space-focused work, he served at U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Joint Force Space Component Command and U.S. Space Command.
The decades of experience in military space made the move to the Space Force a natural progression, he said.
In his role, Klock will oversee mostly airmen who provide support services on bases where the installations are part of the weapons system, said Lt. Gen. David Miller, commander of Space Operations Command.
Miller commended Hanson for his work in the role, such as overseeing $1.1 billion in contracts annually, securing a $1 million grant for off-base child care and advocating with the Danish Ministry of Defence to change the name of Thule Air Base to Pituffik Space Base.
Hanson in turn lauded the work of Space Base Delta 1 since he took command in 2022 with a team of new leaders. He highlighted hundreds of millions of dollars investment, such as refurbishment needed at Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station. The work in the mountain was expected to focus on reconditioning generators, repairing heating and air conditioning systems and replacing the uninterrupted power supply battery system when funding was granted.
The Delta 1 team also remodeled the Schriever Events Center, finished a $17 million medical clinic expansion at Schriever and cut waitlists for child care by 30%, Hanson said. He also highlighted their work to handle critical needs elsewhere, such as handling 700 gallons of spilled diesel fuel at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex at Haleakala.
He encouraged Klock to take care of the delta.
“You are inheriting an eager, motivated and innovative team,” Hanson said during his speech.
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