Slashdot Mirror


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

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.

5 of 528 comments (clear)

  1. BUY SPACEX by Spy+Handler · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Elon is gonna become the biggest defense contractor on earth

  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  3. This, so much This. by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Trump is more than a bit of a clown, but Pence scares me. He actually believes the crap he spouts. If the media was doing it's job his radical religious beliefs would have been front and center during the campaign. If he had his way we'd go back the the 50s with mandatory prayer in schools (yes, that was a thing until a SCOTUS decision shut it down).

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  4. Re:money to burn by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    so this isn't a huge expansion of the defense budget, more a realignment of existing expenditures.

    Horseshit. There's already been a $120 billion increase in the defense budget this year, and the DoD has already requested another $12 billion just to begin the process of realignment. Have you ever heard of an additional government agency that didn't cost more money? How much do you think it cost just to put on Pence's little ceremony today announcing the Space Force? How much will the grand military parade Trump is planning for November cost taxpayers (and China)?

    It's main proposed purpose is to protect the US (and it's allies) from space based attacks which are not primarily of a physical nature but more technological.

    OK, so we're going to be protected from the Klingon empire. Noted.

    It's not like this is way out there either as China has already made claims about some of their satellite based 'defensive' capabilities.

    You know that additional $120 billion that we're spending on the military this year? It's almost entirely borrowed from China. Goddamn, man, do you not see the folly of going into debt to the country so you can build defenses against that country?

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  5. Re:What about the deep see force. by Insanity+Defense · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1984 - "Excess" productivity transferred to continuous war so the "lower classes" can be kept poor and down trodden rather than getting an increased share in worldly goods. Nationalism cranked up to keep them accepting their poverty from the resulting continuous war.

    It wasn't ALL Big Brother.