When President Trump signed a $738 billion defense spending bill on Friday, he officially created the United States Space Force.
Washington: Friday evening President Donald Trump signed into law the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the yearly bill that sets Pentagon policy. The NDAA directs the Pentagon to create the Space Force, which is the first new branch of service since the Air Force was carved out of the Army Air Corps in 1947. The Space Force will become the Sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Patrick Air Force Base, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, is now designated as a Space Force Base. The personnel of the 45th Space Wing overseeingspace operations at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are among 16,000 active-duty airmen and civilians now assigned to the U.S. Space Force. We could potentially see a name change coming in the next couple months. Other re-designated bases are Peterson, Schriever, and Buckley Air Force Bases in Colorado and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Space Force now exists in writing, but it is staffed almost entirely by troops who, for now, will remain in the Air Force.
The law provides for planning up to 18 months so changes will roll out gradually over time. Decisions on uniforms, insignia, marketing strategies, rank structure and even who exactly will become a member of the Space Force all have yet to be made.
President Trump appointed Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond, the head of Air Force Space Command and U.S. Space Command, he will lead the Space Force until a chief is confirmed by the Senate.
“Let there be no mistake, the United States is the best in the world in space today, and today we’re even better,” said Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond “The United States Space Force will ensure that we compete, deter and win from a position of strength in securing our way of life and our national security.”
Those details are “not something we’re going to be able to roll out on Day 1,” Raymond said. “This is really important for our nation. I can’t foot stomp that enough … It’s critical that we get this right.”
“There are, as you can imagine, thousands and thousands of actions that are going to have to take place, everything from what is the uniform look like to a logo, all the way up to who’s in the Space Force and who’s not in the Space Force,” said Raymond at a Pentagon press conference on Friday.
“You know, back in the day when I was a little kid I sat on the floor and watched a man walk on the moon. Today, with this Space Force and with the earlier stand-up of U.S. Space Command and with NASA’s moon-to-Mars, and with commercial industry — this is an exciting time to be in our business, ” Raymond said.
Will space be the battleground of the future, like the 1983 Star Wars episode the Jedi returns? Time will tell.
Did you know?
Currently four nations possess anti-satellite weapons US is one of them. In 2008 US shot down faulty spy satellite.
China is the only country to currently have a Space Force until Friday. It’s called the Chinese People’s liberation Army strategic support force. It was formed in 2015 focusing on Cyber and Space Operations. They test fired and anti-satellite missile in 2007 and are believed to have a number of other counter space weapons.
Russia did have a Space Force in 1992 through 1997 and 2001 through 2011 they currently are part of the joint aerospace forces the test fired a number of anti-satellite missiles since 2015. Last test were December 2018.
India is the most recent country to show counter space weapons it completed the mission Shakti in March in which they destroyed a test satellite.
The defense intelligence agency say both countries Iran and North Korea have satellite jamming technology.
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