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Military Space

White House Wants Space Force To Be Armed Forces Sixth Branch

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 4, 2019
Filed under
White House Wants Space Force To Be Armed Forces Sixth Branch

Letter From OMB To Senate Armed Services Committee Regarding National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020
“Space Force (Sections 1601, 1602, 1603, 1604, and 1608). Elevating the space domain to be on par with the air, land, and sea domains is critical to advancing the role of space power in our national defense. The Nation must transform our approach to space from a support function to a domain of competition-and potential conflict-in which our space forces are prepared to deter aggression and, if necessary, to fight and win. While the bill provides some elements to elevating the space domain, it does not provide the necessary legislative authority to establish the United States Space Force as the sixth branch of the Armed Forces. The Administration strongly urges the Congress to explicitly designate the Space Force as a separate sixth branch of the Armed Forces and include all related technical and conforming amendments. Further, quickly developing a strong, multifaceted culture is critical, and the Administration urges the Congress to provide authority to transfer personnel from all branches of the Armed Forces into the Space Force.”

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4 responses to “White House Wants Space Force To Be Armed Forces Sixth Branch”

  1. David Fowler says:
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    Standard DOD doctrine for multi-domain operations list five warfare domains: land, sea, air, space and cyber. The goal is for forces in all five domains to be integrated in any conflict.

    • Daniel Woodard says:
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      I agree entirely. The existing 45th Space Wing at Patrick AFB has personnel from all the services and spaceflight support includes components from USAF, Navy, Coast Guard and occasionally land forces as well. The principal evolution of the DOD since WWII has been integration of all the service branches into operational commands like Space Command. Creating a service branch is division, not integration. It would be expensive and it is hard to see any practical benefit. I am curious who originated this effort.

      • Tom Billings says:
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        The recent effort originated and passed in the House of Representatives, in 2017 to spring planning free from the USAF Air Staff, since the Air Staff has targeted USAF Space Command funding for “reprogramming” to support fighter squadron combat readiness repeatedly in the last 15 years. In 2018, House members presented at the WH, where the Administration began the current efforts.

        ” Creating a service branch is division, not integration.”

        It is division needed, only at the planning and support level of a Service, when a singe Service dominating MilSpace has consistently tied its planning to that Service’s own needs for “things with wings” alone. US Space Command will be doing the needed integration at the operational level. The new Space Service, whatever it ends up being called, will provide planning from its own Space Staff, logistics, training, and tech development. Those lie virtually undone compared to the needs in the environment PLASSF and the “Space Troops” are tasked with creating.

      • David Fowler says:
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        You are again confusing force providers with combatant commands. They are different things that work together, but which have different missions. The Army is a force provider. Central Command fights wars.