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Trump Directs Pentagon To Create Space Force Legislation for Congress (wsj.com)
President Donald Trump signed a directive on Tuesday that ordered the Department of Defense to create a Space Force as a sixth military branch. From a report: With a directive signed Tuesday, Mr. Trump was positioning the Space Force much as the Marine Corps fits into the Navy, officials said, with the result being lower costs and less bureaucracy. The plan would require congressional approval. Mr. Trump is to propose funding in his proposed 2020 budget, and spell out a goal of eventually establishing the Space Force as a separate military department, a senior administration official said. "Space, that's the next step and we have to be prepared," said Mr. Trump, who added that adversaries were training forces and developing technology. "I think we'll have great support from Congress."
The order Mr. Trump signed, Space Policy Directive 4, calls for a legislative proposal by the secretary of defense to establish a chief of staff of the Space Force within the Air Force. That officer would be a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to an outline. There also be a new under secretary of defense for space to be appointed by the president. The proposal calls for the Space Force to organize, train and equip personnel to defend the U.S. in space, to provide independent military options for "joint and national leadership" and "enable the lethality and effectiveness of the joint force," according to the administration's outline.
The order Mr. Trump signed, Space Policy Directive 4, calls for a legislative proposal by the secretary of defense to establish a chief of staff of the Space Force within the Air Force. That officer would be a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to an outline. There also be a new under secretary of defense for space to be appointed by the president. The proposal calls for the Space Force to organize, train and equip personnel to defend the U.S. in space, to provide independent military options for "joint and national leadership" and "enable the lethality and effectiveness of the joint force," according to the administration's outline.
I'm sure the Pentagon can find an underused broom closet to hang the Space Force sign on.
You do understand the the Air Force has a large group of people who launch and use spy satellites, right? (And other secret payloads we could speculate about). This isn't some futuristic Space Marines thing - this is an existing set of specialties with the Air Force, that has little in common with the other stuff the Air Force does.
The Russian Space Force also operates their early warning radar stations and some similar Cold War stuff. That overlaps enough with core Air Force specialties that I'm not sure it makes sense to split that off, but all the satellite stuff is clear.
As launch costs come down (and they've plummeted in the past decade), I rather expect the military will be doing a lot more with satellites.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
A lot of people who are ignorant about the issue give it flak because Trump has been publicly pushing for the Space Force. Truth is this is not a new idea and is one that a lot of very qualified military leaders, policy makers and analysts have talked about for well over a decade. Further more both China and Russia have operational equivalents in place. So this is a serious and real thing. Not some weird Sci-Fi dream. It's not space marines in power armor conquering planets. Its not Star Trek with ships flying around. Its first and foremost a more sensible way to manage mil space infrastructure with a shorter and dedicated chain of command. It's budget will no longer be cannibalized for terrestrial Air Force projects. And moving forward they will be better prepared to defend our satellites. China and Russia both are working on small disposable satellites that can be used to disabled others. Shooting one down with a missile is fine and all but makes a big mess and threatens Kessler Syndrome. The new threats can disable our satellites without making such a mess. It would deny space to us but leave it open to our enemies. One of the chief complains placed on the Air Force has been their total neglect in dealing with these new threats. So like it or not, Trump is right here. The Space Force is a good idea and one the country needs.