Trump’s ‘Space Force’ still up in the air, as Pentagon resists costly and complicated plan
Critics argue that president’s vague vision would not properly protect US interests in space
US President Donald Trump wants a Space Force, a new military service he says is needed to ensure American dominance in space. But the idea is gaining little traction at the Pentagon, where defence chief James Mattis says it would add burdensome bureaucracy and unwanted costs.
The administration intends to announce next week the results of a Pentagon study that is expected to call for creating a new military command – US Space Command – to consolidate space war fighting forces and making other organisational changes short of establishing a separate service, which only Congress can do. Any legislative proposal to create a separate service would probably not be put on the table until next year.
Mattis, who said before Trump’s “Space Force” announcement in June that he opposes creating a new branch of the military for space, said after that this would require “a lot of detailed planning”.
Mattis is allied on this with key Republicans on Capitol Hill including Senator James Inhofe, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who opposes a separate Space Force but is open to creating a Space Command. The command would coordinate space forces from existing services, such as those that operate military satellites, but would not be a separate service.
Trump mentioned as recently as Tuesday that he had ordered the Pentagon to begin the process of creating a Space Force as a new branch of the military, but he did not repeat the phrase he used in June – a “separate but equal” service. That may open the possibility of the Pentagon proposing to establish a cadre of space experts that would be part of a space “corps” attached to the Air Force rather than as a separate service.