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VP Pence Lays Out Trump's Vision For Establishing a US Space Force (nbcnews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday laid out details for President Donald Trump's proposed new branch of the U.S. military responsible for protecting national security in outer space. From a report: In a speech at the Pentagon, Pence said the new Space Force would be established by 2020. "As President Trump has said, in his words, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space -- we must have American dominance in space. And so we will," Pence said. "Space is, in his words, a war-fighting domain just like land and air and sea." He added, "History proves that peace only comes through strength, and in the realm of outer space, the United States Space Force will be that strength in the years ahead." The Space Force would ultimately become the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and would be equal to the other five, Pence said. The Department of Defense has prepared a report laying out the phases of creating the new branch, which will ultimately have to be reviewed and approved by Congress.

8 of 528 comments (clear)

  1. You idiots. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Know what will happen because of this? Every other nation on the planet that has a space program will now be compelled to do the same. Likely won't be long before there are nuclear warheads in orbit from one country or another. So much for peaceful space exploration. More fucking Dominionist shit from Pence and the Trump administration. I hope Congress votes it down.

    1. Re: You idiots. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This isn't a video game.

    2. Re: You idiots. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Also who wants to live in a world that seems to be locked into a continual cycle of war or threat of war? Would be nice if we'd evolve past this bullshit.

    3. Re:You idiots. by vux984 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's worse than that. China has already demonstrated they can and will shoot down an orbiting satellite.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      And the only take aways anyone with half a brain would have are:

      a) a space based weapons platform would be a sitting duck.

      b) the orbital debris from any sustained orbital conflict will make earths orbit completely inhospitable for decades. A bit of scrap the size of a pencil eraser moving at 8 km/s is going to do a number on anything in its way.

      You can't "dominate" orbital space the way you can dominate air or land. All you can do is render it completely inhospitable for everyone.

    4. Re: You idiots. by jythie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This was only true when conquest was cheaper than trade. This pretty much ended with the late industrial revolution, which is why today you only really see war of conquest in the most impoverished regions.

  2. Why not use the USAF? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why not use the USAF instead of creating another parallel bureaucracy? Better yet, why not merge all of the branches (cut out the Coast Guard and put it back under DoT control) and share as much bureaucracy as possible?

    It's not like we don't have domestic issues (crumbling roads, health care, education, etc) to spend money on. Cut taxes, cut the debt, or start spending money on things that benefit people other than military contractors.

    1. Re:Why not use the USAF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What, then they couldn't ask for a 20% increase in defense spending. This is like Bush creating DHS. Creating new agencies or military branches are a great way to funnel cash to your buds, not the previous guy's buds. There is a good argument that there is already too much duplication among the existing branches.

      There is also the issue that most of the modern problems in international relations cannot be solved by killing people better. Imagine a world where schools, hospitals, and economic development were the lead in American influence in the world instead of bullets and bombs.

  3. Re:"History proves that peace only comes through s by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Germany was quite peaceful in 1939, thanks to its strong military and authoritarian government.

    Yet Germany lost the subsequent war.

    The biggest "winner" of both world wars was the country that had done the least to prepare for them: The United States of America.

    After WW2, America switched to much higher military spending, and higher levels of preparation. Results: Korea - tie, Vietnam - lost, Afghanistan - lost, Iraq - lost.

    The problem with high military spending, is that it makes it easy to initiate stupid wars.