Space Force as a sixth military service by the year 2020
The US Vice President Mike Pence has revealed plans to create a new separate Space Force as a sixth military service by the year 2020.
Pence said the US Space Force will be needed to secure America’s dominance in space as growing competition as threats from China and Russia become more apparent.
He said:
“The Space Force will not be built from scratch. This is a critical step toward’s establishing the Space Force as the sixth branch of our armed forces.”
In a statement from June this year, President Trump said that Space Force will have a similar role to the Air Force, except it will be used off-planet to militarize outer space.
“We are going to have the Air Force and we’re going to have the Space Force, separate but equal. It is going to be something so important.”
According to The Sun: He added that while space was once peaceful and uncontested, it is now crowded and adversarial.
The new arm of the US military will not be built entirely from scratch but come from pre-existing elements.
President Donald Trump has called for a “separate but equal” space force.
Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has endorsed plans to reorganize the military’s space warfighting forces and create a new command but has previously opposed launching an expensive new service.
“It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space.
Space Force all the way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2018
I’m hereby directing the Department of Defence and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.”
At the time, Mr. Trump said Space Force would be “separate but equal” to the Air Force.
Mr. Trump backed his Vice President after he had finished speaking with a message on Twitter that read: “Space Force all the way!
Previously, Mr. Mattis had disapproved of creating a sixth branch of the military.
Mattis wrote in a letter to the House and Senate armed services committees:
“I oppose the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint war-fighting efforts.