As of December 1, 2011 the Space Forces begin operations as a new branch of Russia's Armed Forces - the Air and Space Defense Forces. The new branch, subordinated directly to the General Staff, includes the following structural units: the Space Command, the Air Defense and Space Defense Command, the State Space Launch Test Site Plesetsk, and the arsenal. Lt.-General Oleg Ostapenko, who served as the commander of the Space Forces since June 2008, was appointed the commander of the Air and Space Defense Forces by a presidential decree of November 8, 2011.

The Space Command includes the G. S. Titov Main Space Test Center, which operates military spacecraft, the Main Early Warning Center, and the Main Space Situational Awareness Center (Glavnyi Tsentr Razvedki Kosmicheskoi Obstanovki).

The Air Defense and Space Defense Command consists of the Air Defense Brigade and the Missile Defense Army.

The Kura test site in Kamchatka is subordinated to the Plesetsk test site.