The 328th Weapons Squadron serves as the dedicated weapons school for the United States Space Force, providing advanced tactical instructor courses to select officers and enlisted Guardians. Stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada under Space Delta 1, the squadron trains tactical problem-solvers to integrate space capabilities directly into joint combat operations.
As the premier tactical schoolhouse in military space, the squadron maintains the rigorous standards of the historic Weapons School tradition. Its graduates lead operational planning and design integration tactics for combatant commanders across the globe.
What the 328th Weapons Squadron Is
The 328th Weapons Squadron is the United States Space Force’s weapons school, based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The squadron is assigned to Space Delta 1, the training delta within Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM).
The school prepares students to solve complex tactical dilemmas rather than master isolated pieces of hardware. In a profile published by the Space Force Association, squadron commander Lt. Col. Brian “Knuckles” Peterson explained that the unit builds problem-solvers across three fundamental operational disciplines: space domain awareness, orbital warfare, and electromagnetic warfare. Peterson noted that the instructional staff intentionally avoids producing narrow single-platform specialists, prioritizing adaptive thinkers who can coordinate disparate systems under degraded combat conditions.
From a 1996 Space Course to a Space Force Squadron
Military space tactics training began at Nellis Air Force Base decades before the establishment of the Space Force as an independent service branch. Space first earned a dedicated place in the curriculum of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School in 1996, as documented by Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The formal institutional lineage of the schoolhouse expanded as national security requirements evolved:
- Redesignation and Activation (2003): On January 24, 2003, the Air Force redesignated the training cadre, formally activating the unit as the 328th Weapons Squadron on February 3, 2003, according to historical lineage records compiled by Wikipedia.
- Service Transfer (2020): Following the legislative creation of the sixth military branch, the squadron officially transferred from Air Combat Command to the United States Space Force on July 24, 2020.
- Delta Realignment (2021): The Space Force restructured its training enterprise on August 23, 2021, realigning the squadron directly under the newly activated Space Delta 1.
This evolution shifted the unit’s instructional mandate from simply explaining space support to aircrews toward developing independent space warfighting doctrine. The year 2026 marks 30 continuous years since space curriculum first appeared at Nellis Air Force Base. In June 2026, the Space Force Association marked this milestone by hosting a 30th Anniversary Social and Golf Tournament at Nellis, bringing together three decades of space weapons instructors and program graduates.
Two Courses: WIC and AIC
The 328th Weapons Squadron conducts two distinct instructor courses to build tactical expertise across both the officer and enlisted ranks. Commissioned personnel attend the Space Superiority Weapons Instructor Course (WIC). Enlisted personnel attend the Space Warfighter Advanced Instructor Course (AIC).
Completing either curriculum demands an exceptional volume of academic study and practical performance. Official syllabus metrics record that squadron training totals more than 940 hours of intensive coursework:
- 440 hours of academics
- 10 hours of device training
- 422 hours of mission planning
- 48 hours of mission execution
- 24 hours of examinations
In addition to scheduled instructional hours, every student must complete a graduate-level research paper. Since the squadron’s activation in 2003, more than 350 weapons officers have graduated from its courses.
The First Advanced Instructor Course Class
The expansion of the Weapons School to include enlisted specialists represented a structural shift in military space education. In late 2018, the school selected its first cadre of six enlisted Airmen to establish the Space Warfighter Advanced Instructor Course. According to reporting from Air & Space Forces Magazine, these six enlisted operators began coursework in January 2019 and graduated on November 14, 2019, as the first graduates of the 1C6 Space Warfighter Advanced Instructor Course.
The Advanced Instructor Course was explicitly designed to teach students how to plan and integrate space capabilities into broader joint military operations. By training enlisted instructors alongside commissioned weapons officers, the squadron establishes a shared tactical language across crew forces.
How the School Trains: Crawl, Walk, Run to a Capstone
Instruction at the 328th Weapons Squadron follows an escalating pedagogical method designed to build composure under stress. Lt. Col. Brian Peterson outlined this approach as a structured “crawl, walk, run progression.” Students first absorb theoretical principles in the classroom, apply those theories inside controlled mission planning cells, and finally execute full-scale joint integration drills against unscripted adversary scenarios.
Peterson articulated the philosophy behind this demanding environment plainly: “I want people to fail here.” Experiencing tactical failure in a controlled training environment is meant to build adaptive resilience, ensuring that future commanders do not encounter their first operational setback during an actual international crisis.
The course reaches its climax during an intensive capstone exercise. Students must lead unfamiliar crews through realistic combatant-command scenarios. Explaining the ultimate purpose of this training regimen, Peterson noted: “Everything we do to gain space control…is to support the joint force.” The entire curriculum reinforces that orbital superiority exists to protect terrestrial forces and ensure joint mission success.
Why the Weapons School Matters Beyond Nellis
Graduates of the 328th Weapons Squadron are the tactical planners behind operational space warfare. While our guide to Space Force weapons details fielded hardware like the Counter Communications System, Meadowlands, and surveillance assets like GSSAP, those physical platforms depend on the officers trained here to plan how they are used.
These tactical planners work across the same disciplines the squadron trains: space domain awareness, orbital warfare, and electromagnetic warfare. As detailed in our breakdown of space control doctrine, military operations in orbit divide into offensive and defensive counterspace activities, and the practical expertise to carry them out is what the school’s curriculum builds. That expertise also underpins the joint-operations concepts covered in our reference on space warfare principles.
To understand how new candidates enter the service before reaching advanced schoolhouses like the 328th Weapons Squadron, consult our guide on how to join the Space Force to evaluate initial entry requirements, service pipelines, and basic training paths.