Space Force unveils new ceremonial uniform

Seven years after it was established, Space Force has a new, original ceremonial dress uniform.

Guardians in the Space Force Honor Guard will debut the new uniform publicly on Sunday, Aug. 23 at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix IndyCar event in Washington, D.C. For much of its early years, Space Force — including its honor guard — has used modified Air Force uniforms for its service members, as the force worked to establish itself and develop its own identity. Now it has a wholly distinct outfit for members of the honor guard.

The new uniform is built on the dress uniform that guardians wear, with dark gray pants and shirts and a dark blue coat with a diagonal closure and a hexagonal Space Force symbol. The ceremonial version adds a dark cap with Space Force’s delta insignia, white gloves and a lighter blue belt and rope over the left shoulder that stand out against the coat. It also includes a lighter-colored shirt than the Class A dress uniform.

According to the service, Space Force has spent the last eight months finalizing the design, after releasing its guidance on the ceremonial uniform in January.

The new ceremonial uniform will help make the honor guard more distinct, according to members. “The public will now be able to immediately recognize us as Guardians,” Chief Master Sgt. Ross Koehler, senior enlisted leader for the USSF Honor Guard, said in Space Force’s announcement.

The honor guard, like other services’, is the main ceremonial element of Space Force, taking part in major events such as events in Washington, D.C. and the funeral for President Jimmy Carter.

The force is currently the smallest branch of the military, with only a few thousand active-duty members. Alongside growing its force and building out terrestrial and space infrastructure, Space Force has been working to create its own distinct identity as a military service. A major part of that has been new uniforms that are wholly its own. 

At the end of 2025, new guardians graduating basic military training wore Space Force’s dress uniform for the first time. That uniform, like the ceremonial one, uses a darker blue than the Air Force’s dress. The Space Force dress uniform has been revised repeatedly over the last five years; one of the major changes was to the pants, which originally were quite baggy before being adjusted.