The decision to move U.S. Space Command out of Colorado was a red flag for business leaders who have formed a new coalition to work on seeing that the state holds onto its edge in the aerospace and defense fields.
Led by the Colorado Chamber Foundation, the new organization wants to strengthen the state’s position as a national leader in the industry. The foundation is the nonprofit, educational arm of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce.
The Aerospace & Defense Alliance is an initiative of the chamber’s “Vision 2033: Blueprint for Colorado’s Future.” The plan grew out of talking to chambers of commerce around the state over two years and an analysis by economists of Colorado’s economy and business climate.
The blueprint looks at challenges and areas where Colorado is competitive, said Rachel Beck, executive director of the chamber foundation. “We have some tailwinds and one of those was aerospace.”
Colorado’s aerospace industry is the country’s second-largest, behind only California. The state has the most aerospace employees per capita in the nation. Approximately 2,000 aerospace businesses employ 55,000 people directly and another 184,000 directly, according to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
Nearly $23 billion in federal contracts went to Colorado aerospace and defense companies from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
Beck said the aim of the new space alliance is to ensure that Colorado’s aerospace and defense industries continue to be strong and grow. The group, which includes industry representatives, wants to make sure Colorado’s interests are known in Washington, D.C.
“We want to make sure that those companies stay here, they come here, they grow here and they don’t go to other states instead,” she said.
U.S. Space Command is one that’s getting away. President Donald Trump announced in September that he will move the command to Huntsville, Ala., the spot he chose during his first term as president. Joe Biden had reversed Trump’s decision and declared Colorado Springs as the command’s permanent home.
Losing Space Command “was a bit of a red flag,” Beck said.
The Air Force cited cost and other factors in 2021 when it identified Army Redstone Arsenal in Alabama as the preferred location for the new U.S. Space Command.
But Trump also raised politics when he said one of the factors in his decision was that voters in Colorado mostly vote by mail. He has said he wants to eliminate mail-in ballots, calling them “corrupt.”
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is suing over the Trump administration’s decision.
“We think the data showed that Colorado was the best place for Space Command,” Beck said. “I think that the business community and the state did a great job of pulling together to advocate for that. It’s clear to me that the industry does have a lot of advocates and a lot of allies who understand how important the industry is here.”
Beck said the Colorado Chamber Foundation doesn’t intend to duplicate the work being done by other advocates, including the Colorado Space Coalition and the Colorado Space Business Roundtable. She said folks in the industry expressed the need to communicate more with people at the federal level about “what’s happening in Colorado and what we bring to the table.”
The alliance will be headed by Christie Lee, director of state and local affairs at United Launch Alliance, and Chad Vorthmann, government relations representative at Lockheed Martin Space.
One of the first plans is to work with economists on a comprehensive analysis of Colorado’s aerospace and defense industries.