The U.S. Space Force has launched a new initiative to tie its people and systems together. There is a formal naming scheme which groups space weapon systems into symbolic families and gives individual platforms more evocative names. The initiative was announced by Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman during his 11 December 2025 keynote at the Space Force Association’s Spacepower Conference in Orlando. He indicated that the initiative was intended to “cement the identities” of the force’s mission areas and make the service’s hardware part of the culture Guardians rally around.
The Announcement
Saltzman mentioned at the conference that the Space Force would assign thematic symbology to mission areas so that systems and the Guardians who operate them would share a clearer distinctive identity. In the keynote he said the symbols “conjure the character of the systems, the importance of their mission, and the identity of the Guardians who employ them.” The remarks were published on the Space Force website on 11 December 2025.
Seven thematic families were revealed by the officials which would be used to name both legacy and future satellites and ground systems. According to reporting and the Space Force presentation, those themes are as follows:
- Orbital warfare: Norse pantheon
- Electromagnetic warfare: Snakes
- Cyber warfare: Mythological creatures
- Navigation warfare: Sharks
- Satellite communications: Constellations
- Missile warning: Sentinels
- Space domain awareness: Ghosts.
Additionally, Gen. Saltzman officially introduced two system names chosen by field units: the Ultra-High Frequency Follow-On constellation (operated by the 10th Space Operations Squadron) which would be called Ursa Major, and an Operationally Responsive Space spacecraft flown by the 1st Space Operations Squadron will be known as Bifrost (Norse bridge between Earth and the gods). Saltzman explained the Ursa Major name by noting the Big Dipper’s role in pointing to Polaris, “always linking us to our most important missions.”
Intention of this Space Force initiative
Saltzman framed the effort as part of building a distinct warfighting service culture. “As a highly technical service, our identity is rooted just as much in the systems we employ as the people who operate them,” he stated in the prepared remarks. The naming drive, he explained, is created so Guardians feel a direct connection to platforms instead of anonymous catalogue numbers.
In the past, U.S. services attach names to platforms to capture ethos and to make complex systems more memorable such as the Air Force’s “Fighting Falcon,” the Army’s “M1 Abrams,” and the Navy’s “AEGIS” system are familiar examples the Space Force cited. Saltzman first asked Guardians to help name systems in a memo issued in October 2024.
How names will be chosen and vetted
Space Force officials say the themes and initial names originated in a bottom-up process. Since the past year, teams from operational Deltas solicited input from Guardians through emails, focus groups and other outreach. Those field inputs shaped the seven mission-area themes shown at the conference. Guardians are now submitting a list of candidate names under the new themes to Headquarters Space Force. Before finalizing names, HQ will run a formal vetting process that includes trademark/licensing checks and operational security reviews. A service spokesperson stressed on the need to balance meaningful names with legal and security concerns.
At the conference Saltzman also highlighted that the Space Force will roll the program out incrementally. The service has not published a timeline for naming every platform, and leaders said they want Guardians to have adequate time to choose names that reflect unit heritage and mission.
Operational and cultural impact
The program is being regarded as a cultural and morale-building measure with operational resonance. By giving mission areas evocative symbology — from “ghosts” for the silent, persistent work of space domain awareness to the “Norse pantheon” for the dominance implied in orbital warfare, the Space Force hopes to make the units’ work more visible to joint war fighters, policymakers and the public. Saltzman remarked that the exercise will aid the service in explaining its role inside the Joint Force and provide the Guardians a way to “own” the identity of the systems they field.
Critics and commentators quickly reacted online to the unconventional list of motifs such as the snakes, sharks and mythological beast, noting the move’s novelty and its potential for both esprit de corps and light-hearted mockery on social media. The service itself acknowledged informal circulation of category illustrations on Reddit and the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) prior to the formal HQ posting.
Gen. Saltzman and Space Force spokespeople said more theme rollouts and individual system names are expected but stated that they have not committed to a strict schedule. The service will continue to collect Guardian input and conduct the necessary vetting before final announcements. At the moment, Ursa Major and Bifrost serve as the first public examples of the program’s intent: combine operational description, unit heritage and symbolic language to shape a distinct Space Force culture as the service matures.
Sources:
Full remarks by Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman at the Spacepower Conference — U.S. Space Force, published Dec. 11, 2025.
“Space Force unveils new themes for weapon systems to boost identity,” Cristina Stassis, Military Times, Dec. 12, 2025.
“Snakes, Sharks, and Ghosts: Space Force Reveals Themes for Naming Platforms,” Air & Space Forces Magazine, Dec. 11, 2025.
More on the US Space strategy:
The “Golden Dome” Missile Defence Initiative: Ambitions, Components, and Challenges: https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/the-golden-dome-missile-defense-initiative/
America Launches Space Aircraft Carriers: https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/america-launches-space-aircraft-carriers/
