Here Comes The Space Force – Maybe
Trump says “we are going to have Air Force and the Space Force – separate but equal”
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 18, 2018
The president told a US general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they don’t want. Thankfully the president can’t do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake. https://t.co/uYzqg1W8nE
— Senator Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) June 18, 2018
White House press briefing question moments ago about the #SPACEFORCE that the President wants to build and whether this has been signed off on and how WH expects to do this without consent of Congress. Sarah Sanders Answer: "White House has asked USAF to start the process."
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 18, 2018
Is there even anything one can say at this point?
Not in polite company.
What this does is it sets up the debate of what should be the role of the military in the new space age being created by SpaceX and Blue Origin. Will it continue to be limited to providing space based assets to warfighters and just replace them as needed? Or will it take a more active role in protecting those assets? Will it have any role in protecting commercial activities in space? And if so from whom? And how? How
about rescue? Will it serve that function for civilian space travelers and settlements? If so to what extent? And what about planetary defense? Will it become the lead? Or leave it with NASA? Or partner with both NASA and space commerce firms working on space resources recovery? And of course, will it go it alone or attempt to create some international framework like NATO to keep space secure? Some interesting questions with ramifications for the future of activities in space.
As a side note, the more independent the Air Corp became from the ground forces the more it was able to contribute to advancing aviation technology research that had civilian applications. There was an interesting alternating cycle for example between bomber/transport development and civilian airliner development particularly at Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing in the period from 1929 to 1959. Would a Space Force have a similar impact in space?
This is just another way for Big Defense to get more dollars funneled to it.
What about uniforms? Do they stick with something traditional for the Air Force, except maybe changing to all black? Or do they go with pull-over jerseys like Star Fleet? Do we all have too much spare time on our hands?
Army: HOOAH!
Marine Corps: OOOH RAH!
Navy: HOO YAH!
Space Force: *silence*
Because in space, no one can hear you scream…
“But nothing can stop the U.S. Aerospace Force!”
The rhyme was crrect only in the original:
“For nothing can stop the Army Air Corps!”
In operational terms the paradigm of the last seventy years has been unification of the military services, not fragmentation. The separate land, sea and air services are useful for training, system development, logistics, etc. but in operational employment the lesson, ever since WWII, is that they are more effective when they train and fight in an integrated posture. Thus we have fewer forts and AF bases and more joint bases.
In the case of space, Space Command already has the efficiency of specialization while drawing from all the services and the Reserves and Coast Guard as well. Augmenting forces and personnel are assigned as needed for space missions while supporting other duties at other times. Other than posturing before Congress for money, it’s difficult to see how the cost of a new servce would be warranted.
As you note things have been done the same way for a long time, so it’s probably long overdue to see if that is the best way to move forward. Note – see if that is the best way, not just assume it is.
The military made many attempts to integrate human spaceflight into the defense mission, ranging from the Manned Orbiting Laboratory to the classified Shuttle missions. Ultimately they determined on the basis of hard experience that human spaceflight was not productive for military missions, a least not at anything approching current costs, and robotic systems operated by Space Command and other agencies with operational requirements was more appropriate. This was an expensive lesson and unless someone can show needs or resources have changed, I doubt there is anything to be gained by a major study or operational change. Unfortunately it is not an assumption, but the conclusion of decades of trying to find a problem that a Space Force would solve.
So you are assuming that a Space Force would include humans in space? Why? I have not seen that element in any of the discussions. Indeed, the USAF itself is even moving in the opposite direction with its UAVs.
This is not as simple a task as might be imagined. There would be similar problems and decisions to be made about jurisdictions and areas of responsibilities as occurred when the Air Force was split from the Army. Where does “space” (as in “Space Force”) begin? At 62.5km? Maybe a better idea would be to re-designate the Air Force as “the Aerospace Force.
100 km, about 62.5 miles.
That’s the easy part. Would a “Space Force” be responsible for everything crossing the Karman line? If so, that would mean taking ballistic missiles away from the Air Force. Responsibility for (unmanned) reconnoissance is already a bit of a mess; figuring out how a “Space Force” fit into that would be a messy turf war.
The only way this idea would work at all smoothly, is for the new organization have a clearly stated mission described in specific terms. A 140 character statement from the President doesn’t do it. (Yes, I know he didn’t tweet it; but the level of detail was about that skippy.)
No, ICBMs were transferred out of Space Command to the Global Strike Command in 2009. So they wouldn’t be an issue. But the USAF Cyberwar units are part of Space Command and a decision would need to be made if they would stay with it if it becomes independent or be shifted elsewhere.
Also both the Army and Navy have their own Space Commands. So another question would be if these would be added and integrated into the Space Force or not. My guess is probably not, but I am sure it will be discussed.
Since the President’s statements are so unclear, I think anything could be possible. Including taking ICBMs away from whoever is currently in charge of them. It’s all very vague at this point. I guess that’s my point. Without a clearly articulated purpose and mission, I can’t see the discussion going anywhere. Nor do I see how the decisions would be made.
You can’t put half a dozen or a dozen people, all with their own agendas, in one room and just say, “let’s talk about it.” I’ve done that, before I learned better, and it wasn’t pretty. All you get is endless debate that never really goes anywhere.
Brain freeze! Of course I meant 100 clicks = 62.5 MILES!
Space Command is always last in line for budget, personnel and other resources in a service run by pilots who don’t understand, or care about space. And space budgets regularly get raided to pay for aviation cost overruns. In short, space has been managed poorly by the Air Force. While not cost neutral, startup costs wouldn’t be horrible, as most of the infrastructure and organization already exists. The Air Force was once part of the Army, after all….
Yes, the air corps was treated the same way by Generals from the infranty that saw little use for aircraft beyond close air support and observation. We were lucky enough visionaries were able to gain enough independence for the Air Force within the Army in the late 1930’s to be ready for WW II.
Somebody at the White House must’ve set Trump’s DVR to record an episode of ” The Expanse ” instead of ” Fox News & Friends” , and he thought it was the real deal. Now he wants to be Big Rocket Man.
Aliens need to come and abduct him before he starts thinking offworld.
Are you sure it wasn’t Starship Troopers? “I hate bugs!!!”
The problem is not simply that Trump confuses entertainment with reality, but that he has persuaded so much of the electorate that there is little or no distinction.
Didn’t Trump’s long-time backers explain to him that there’s been a secret military base on the moon for decades? It’s where they filmed the fake Apollo moon landings.
You are forgetting, it was President Clinton’s Chief of Staff and Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta that was selling that line on the talk shows.
Or perhaps making big announcement for a space force is to distract attention from Manafort indictment and immigration issues.
You mean like the immigration issues that were ignored during the Obama administration and that the Dems are raising are to distract us from the FBI IG report?
This has been talked about years before Trump.
Of course it was. Having said that , it’s all lost on a President who can change his mind several times a day; doesn’t remember what he said or did yesterday , or let’s his ‘ stream of consciousness’ take him into the Void
This discussion did not start in the Trump Administration. I don’t know how wide spread it is, but I have heard members from other branches complain for years that the Air Force doesn’t put a high enough priority on the space assets these other branches use very heavily. Of course the Air Force would be against this because they would lose part of their mission. In a way, the space assets are kind of like the military’s equivalent of an IT department providing and maintaining the capability for the rest of the company (armed forces). Maybe the service branch name should be the US Geek Force. Here is the typical recruit for the branch: https://www.nbc.com/saturda…
Yes, here comes the US Space Force for the free world defense, President Trump, Commander-in-Chief, wants more space jobs for the young and all in the coming years or forever.
The US Space Farce would need to be a major customer for SpaceX’s BFR assembly line, won’t they?
Didn’t they already make a sequel to Independence Day?
Space Force to build a wall around the Earth to keep out aliens.
Well, we better have some outfit in case the Klingon Fleet appears coming through the Kuiper Belt. Or if Ming The Merciless tries to suck the nitrogen out of our atmosphere (for you Buck Rogers fans :rolleyes:).
“separate but equal”
A phrase that carries a century of meaning, stripped to the bones by an illiterate.
Just when will folks start laughing?