What the School That Trains Space Warfighters Has Built, and What Comes Next

Space has been a contested domain for years. The doctrine, the training, and the culture needed to fight and win in it have been built, mostly quietly, at a squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. Most people who care about the Space Force have never heard of it. Most of the people shaping how space warfare is conducted today came through it.This year, the 328th Weapons Squadron turns 30. Three decades after the Space Division was stood up at the Air Force Weapons School in 1996, the institution that started by teaching fighter pilots how to integrate space support into their missions now graduates the tactical and operational leaders who will contest the domain against peer adversaries. The transformation is real. And according to the officer commanding the 328th right now, it's far from finished.In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Lt. Col. Brian "Knuckles" Peterson, Commander of the 328th Weapons Squadron, to talk about what the space weapons officer community has built, where it's going, and what the next 30 years demand.In this conversation, Lt. Col. Peterson discusses:Why the 328th is a domain WIC, not a platform WIC, and why that distinction changes everything about how space warfighters are trainedWhat it means to graduate 450 weapons officers over 30 years in a service that still needs to double in sizeHow the course evolved from space support integration to full orbital warfare and EW combined arms, and why that shift wasn't just curriculum, it was cultureThe debrief culture that distinguishes weapons officers: why failure is designed into the course, and what that teaches about decision-making under real-world pressureThe feedback loop between operators, testers, and acquirers, and why building the widget before figuring out how to fight it is one of the Space Force's cardinal sinsWhat it looks like when a Guardian truly understands the joint force, and why that connection is the foundation of everything the 328th producesWhy the school is expanding: a new building, an intelligence course, a cyber course, and what that signals about where the Space Force is headingWhat the 30th anniversary Reblu is actually for, and why reconnecting 450 graduates matters as much as the classified combat updates on day oneWhat the 328th needs to keep producing to ensure the Space Force wins the fights that are comingThe Space Force of 2045 is being built right now at Nellis. The 328th turns 30 this month and the celebration isn't just about what's been accomplished. It's about what the weapons officer community owes the joint force in the next three decades.Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty HollidayGuest: Lt. Col. Brian "Knuckles" Peterson, Commander, 328th Weapons Squadron, Space Delta 1, Space Training and Readiness Command Lt. Col. Peterson commands the Space Force's weapons school at Nellis Air Force Base — the institution responsible for producing the Space Force's tactical and operational warfighting experts. He brings a background in missile warning, three combat deployments, and time in the Space Force's futures division to the role.Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.