DESPITE resistance from, well, just about everyone, Donald Trump has moved ahead with plans for a new Space Force.
Headed up by a four-star general and staffed by outer space specialists, the new service will become the sixth branch of the US military.
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Vice-president Mike Pence made it official on Thursday night, saying the age of space being peaceful and uncontested was over and, in a crowded and adversarial environment, it was right the US was properly prepared.
Trump marked Pence’s announcement with a tweet: “Space Force all the way!”
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
TRUMP first talked properly about the idea of a galactic militia back in March.
“Space is a war fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea”, he told an audience at Miramar Air Station near San Diego. “We may even have a space force – develop another one.
“I was saying it the other day, because we’re doing a tremendous amount of work in space – maybe we need a new force, we’ll call it the Space Force. I was not really serious, and then I said ‘what a great idea, maybe we’ll have to do that. That could happen’.”
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Well, now it is happening. In June, Trump directed the US Department of Defence to “immediately begin the process necessary to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces”.
Whenever this, or anything similar, has been mooted before, as it was in 2010, and last year, it’s always been rejected, partially because the US Air Force currently does much of what the Space Force would be doing.
Trump, however, has promised to make Space Force “separate, but equal” to the Air Force.
On Thursday, Pence said the new mobilisation was because of Russia and China, and other US enemies who have “pursued weapons to jam, blind and disable our navigation and communication satellites via electronic attacks from the ground”.
“As their actions make clear, our adversaries have transformed space into a war fighting domain already, and the United States will not shrink from this challenge,” he added.
The last time the US created a new uniformed military service was in 1947, when the Air Force was launched after the Second World War. It joined the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
Deputy Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters that the Pentagon doesn’t have a figure on how much the new service will cost, but said he assumed it would be in the billions.
WHAT WILL SPACE FORCE DO?
THERE will be a Space Command responsible for developing war fighting operations, a Space Development Agency to develop new technologies, and a Space Operations Force of leaders and fighters. Its main role is to prepare for conflict in space and to lead US space forces should such a war begin.
WHAT HAS THE REACTION TO THE SPACE FORCE BEEN?
RETIRED astronaut Captain Mark Kelly called the proposed space force a “dumb idea”.
“There is a threat out there, but it’s being handled by the US Air Force today. It doesn’t make sense to build a whole other level of bureaucracy,” he told MSNBC.
Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz said Republicans were too afraid to tell the president the idea was a bad one. “Although ‘Space Force’ won’t happen, it’s dangerous to have a leader who cannot be talked out of crazy ideas,” the Democrat tweeted.
Actor Mark Hamill – Luke Skywalker himself – suggested the president wasn’t telling the truth: “For those of you worried that SPACE FORCE is the leaked title of #EpIX... Relax! Turns out it’s just lie #3,253.”
Bernie Sanders tweeted: “Maybe, just maybe, we should make sure our people are not dying because they lack health insurance before we start spending billions to militarise outer space.”
That was echoed by rising Democrat star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who tweeted: “But how are we going to pay for the Space Force? Oh wait sorry – we only ask that when it comes to healthcare, education, and saving the planet.”
WHAT NOW?
THE people behind Trump’s campaign to get re-elected in 2020 hope the Space Force will excite voters.
His campaign manager, Brad Parscale, emailed supporters asking them to choose between six different Space Force logos including one that caught many by surprise with its tag line “Mars Awaits”.
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