Senate Confirms Bratton for Space Vice Chief, Anderson to Lead AFRICOM

The Space Force has a new Vice Chief of Space Operations and U.S. Africa Command has its first-ever leader from the Air Force. 

The Senate voted to confirm Lt. Gen. Shawn N. Bratton as Vice Chief of Space Operations and Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson as commander of AFRICOM on July 31. Both will become four-star generals.  

Bratton’s confirmation comes just two weeks after he was nominated to succeed Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, who is now the directing the Golden Dome for America initiative, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense. 

Bratton, a former Air National Guard officer, spent the past two years as the Space Force’s strategy, requirements, and budget czar. He is credited with helping Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman to develop the Space Warfighting framework. Prior to that, Bratton stood up Space Training and Readiness Command as its first commander.  

Bratton enlisted in the Air Guard in 1987, working on aircraft control and early warning systems, and got his commission in 1994. He has been in the space arena since 2000, when he joined Air Force Space Command. As the third leader ever to be Vice Chief of Space Operations, he takes over at a potential inflection point for the young service. The Space Force has been advocating for more resources to support increasing demand from combatant commands, and it will play a central role in Golden Dome. USSF is also developing countermeasures to new Russian and Chinese weapons that threaten U.S. and allied satellites. 

Anderson, a special ops pilot by training, was nominated June 4 to lead U.S. Africa Command. His prior experience in the region includes leading U.S. Special Operations Command’s Africa branch from 2019 to 2021. His most recent post was director for joint force development, a Joint Staff position at the Pentagon. A native of Ypsilanti, Mich., Anderson has flown KC-135 tankers, MC-130E special operations transports, and U-28A reconnaissance planes. 

The future of AFRICOM has been a topic of discussion since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proposed reducing the number of general officers this spring, including potentially realigning the nation’s 11 unified commands. Some have proposed re-combining U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, which were unified until 2007. 

Since then, AFRICOM had been led exclusively by Soldiers and Marines. Putting an Airman in charge comes as the command ramps up airstrikes against violent extremist organizations across the continent. 

The Senate also approved a raft of other nominations July 31 before leaving for its August recess. These include new Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle and a new commander at U.S. Special Operations Command, Vice Adm. Frank Bradley. 

Not yet confirmed by the recess was Air Force Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, nominated to become Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. His promotion will remain on ice until the Senate returns to work in early September. How soon it could be taken up after that is anybody’s guess. The position has been vacant since February.