President Trump's proposed "Space Force"

[girder]

On the 18th of June 2018, the U.S. president made an announcement on the proposal to create a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces dedicated to the realm of space operations:

Trump: Space Force and Air Force will be 'separate but equal'

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump used a term from US segregationist history to describe the relationship between the Air Force and his newest military branch, the Space Force, calling it "separate but equal."

"We must have American dominance in space. Very importantly, I'm hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That's a big step," he said in the White House East Room during a meeting of his National Space Council Monday.
"We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force: separate but equal, it is going to be something so important," he said.

Unfortunately, the Internet being what it is, most people seem to have completely missed the point and instead have made it yet another humorous Trump meme.

Much of what passes for discussion that I've seen online is done of out ignorance of the current state of space-based military assets or of emerging space and counterspace capabilities, not to say the least of their significance to modern warfare.

Most don't even seem to be aware that the United States has had and continues to have a command dedicated to its space-based assets. I would wager that even fewer are aware that Russia did in fact have its own separate branch for its space forces, before it integrated its air and space branches into one force, which oversees its air, missile and space assets. Other countries that have commands for their own space assets are China and France.

Other significant parts of the announcement that were completely glossed over by most media coverage were the proposals for a traffic management framework and the aim of reducing the threat of orbital debris. Both of which would be pretty significant for not just the United States, but for all parties with a stake in Earth's orbit.

Ultimately what bothers me is not that people are opposed to the move, but that most seem to be so out of a position of ignorance.

Links and references:
Trump directs Pentagon to create military Space Force
Trump's 'space force': Pentagon tackles call to create 6th military branch
Everything you need to know about Trump's 'Space Force'
Outer Space Treaty
Outer Space Treaty @ Wikipedia
Global Counterspace Capabilities (Full pdf report available on webpage)

[girder]

deGrasse Tyson: Trump's 'Space Force' not a weird idea

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says President Donald Trump's idea to create a "space force" is not a fundamentally flawed idea if the US Air Force, which currently manages all the US GPS and space capabilities, feels overwhelmed and can no longer handle the load as technology use in space evolves.

[girder]

Proposed logos:



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/space-force-logo-voting-trump-administration-announcement-today-2018-08-09/

[adroth]

Last night, an astronaut called the Space Force an impractical idea because it would add bureaucracy By duplicating what the US air force was doing.

The same argument could have been said about the USAF and the US Army Air Corps. Imagine how US air power doctrine would be today had that split not been made.

[girder]

The thing is, it wouldn't even be duplication because Air Force Space Command and all its responsibilities would be transferred to the new branch.

The question is: could they afford the cost of creating the new branch and would the benefits outweigh them. If it's too much more fiscal burden, perhaps a more incremental approach would be prudent? Turn space command into a sub-branch with the aim gradually making it a more autonomous branch.

[adroth]

Turn space command into a sub-branch with the aim gradually making it a more autonomous branch.

In essence, it already is a "sub-branch" being a major command.

Letting it become a full-on service would give it the same doctrinal focus that the creation of the Air Force did for the USAF.

[Ayoshi]

U.S. armed forces to have a Space Command | Army Recognition - 19 December 2018 11:14

U.S. Space Command will be the U.S. military’s 11th unified combatant command, Vice President Mike Pence announced on 18 December 2018 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “It will serve alongside other functional commands like Strategic Command and Special Operations Command, and it will be led by a four-star flag officer,” Pence said. “It will establish unified control over all our military space operations.”

< snipped >

U.S. Space Command will integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military, the vice president said. “It will develop the space doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures that will enable our warfighters to defend our nation in this new era,” he added. In the future, the U.S. Space Command will become the sixth branch of the armed forces, he said, noting that the administration is working with Congress to stand up the U.S. Space Force before the end of 2020.

Vice President Mike Pence speaking on 18 December 2018 at the Kennedy Space Center (Picture source: U.S. DoD)

[Ayoshi]

Trump’s new Space Force to reside under Department of the Air Force | Defense news

The new service will be overseen by the newly created undersecretary of the Air Force for the Space Force and a Space Force chief of staff, who will sit on the Joint Chiefs.

Although the version of the proposal seen by Defense News is still in draft form and thus subject to change, an administration official with knowledge of discussions said that there is alignment across the Defense Department on keeping the Space Force within the Department of the Air Force.

The document has been circulating among top Pentagon and service leaders, with the intent to hand it off to the Office of Management and Budget next, said one Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak on the record.

< snipped >

It appears that, after doing its analysis, the Pentagon favors a more modest approach — one that allows the Air Force to retain a degree of oversight over the Space Force initially, with the idea that it could establish a Department of the Space Force later if the need presented itself.

“The Space Force shall be organized, trained and equipped to provide for freedom of operations in, from and to the space domain for the United States and its allies” and “to provide independent military options for joint and national leadership and to enable the lethality and effectiveness of the joint force,” the legislative proposal states.

The service, which consists of an active duty component and Space Force Reserves, “includes both combat and combat support functions to enable prompt and sustained offensive and defensive space operations and joint operations in all domains.”

The undersecretary of the Air Force for the Space Force will be responsible for “the overall supervision” of the new service, but is still subordinate to the Air Force secretary, the legislative proposal states. On the uniformed side, a chief and vice chief of the Space Force would lead the “Space Staff.”

The proposal does not lay out the Space Force’s relationship to the newly re-established U.S. Space Command or the Space Development Agency, which the Pentagon intends to form to organize the rapid procurement of space technologies. Nor does it spell out the cost of standing up a new space service, a topic that has been hotly debated within the Pentagon and beyond.

[adroth]

Congress creating Space Force with limited headroom
By: Joe Gould and Valerie Insinna    10 hours ago

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2019/12/10/congress-creating-space-force-with-limited-head-room/
 
WASHINGTON ― Congress is creating a new, independent Space Force within the Department of the Air Force, but lawmakers want to make sure its budget doesn’t go to infinity and beyond.

Negotiators of the 2020 defense policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, reached a compromise Monday that redesignates Air Force Space Command as the new, sixth armed service. But wary of adding costs and bureaucracy, lawmakers included language to prohibit any new billets. That means the Defense Department will have to draw from thousands of military personnel in existing space organizations, including those in the Air Force and across the department.

< Edited >

That’s not to say Space Force would come without any new positions and organizations. It creates a chief of space operations, or CSO ― a title based on a Navy model ― who will report directly to the Air Force secretary and become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. John “Jay” Raymond is the current commander of both Air Force Space Command and U.S. Space Command, the unified combatant command.

During the first year, the CSO may also serve as the commander of U.S. Space Command. He would be required to update Congress every 60 days for the first two years, with briefings and reports on implementation and establishment status.

< Edited >

[Ayoshi]

https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/digital-battlespace/lockheed-develop-protected-satcom-us-space-force/

Lockheed to develop protected SATCOM for US Space Force
10th March 2020 - 09:30 GMT

Lockheed Martin was awarded a $240 million contract to develop and produce a prototype payload for its Protected Tactical SATCOM (PTS) system.

PTS will use a constellation of geostationary satellites, commercially hosted payloads and coalition partner satellites to provide protected communications through a strong ground control network.

[Ayoshi]

https://www.janes.com/article/95753/us-air-force-transfers-space-units-to-us-space-force

US Air Force transfers space units to US Space Force
24 April 2020

These mission transfers are in line with the Space Policy Directive, which calls for the USSF to consolidate existing forces and authorities for military space activities, as appropriate, in order to minimise duplication of effort and eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies.

The following units and organisations have been identified for full mission transfer: 17th Test Squadron, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado; 18th Intel Squadron, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; 25th Space Range Squadron, Schriever AFB, Colorado; 328th Weapons Squadron, Nellis AFB, Nevada; 527th Space Aggressor Squadron, Schriever AFB, Colorado; 705th Combat Training Squadron OL-A, Schriever AFB, Colorado; 544th ISR Group Staff & Detachment 5, Peterson AFB, Colorado; Detachment 1, USAF Warfare Center, Schriever AFB, Colorado; 533rd Training Squadron, Vandenberg AFB, California; National Security Space Institute, Peterson AFB, Colorado; Counter-Space Analysis Squadron, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; Space Analysis Squadron, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachment 4, Peterson AFB, Colorado; and Air Force Safety Center - Space Safety Division, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

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Where Does Space Force Go After Trump Leaves Office?

(TNS) — President Trump  has a penchant for grandiose promises that go unfulfilled. So when he announced a plan to establish a Space Force, there was some skepticism.

Then-Sen.  Bill Nelson  (D-Fla.), ranking member on a Senate committee that deals with aviation and space, disliked the idea of consolidating space programs from the other military branches, saying at the time that there were "too many important missions at stake" to "rip the Air Force apart."

The idea of the new service became fodder for late-night comedians and a Netflix sitcom.

The Space Force, however, was not merely a presidential musing. Created last year as the first new armed service since 1947, it was established with the mission of protecting U.S. interests in space from potential adversaries, be they rival nations or gobs of space junk.

Whether it can achieve that mission is an open question. Though Trump champions the initiative, he has done little to ensure it has the funding, staffing and authority to succeed. When he exits the White House next month, the Space Force's trajectory remains unclear.

The Space Force has gained control of some space operations, but many others are still spread throughout the nation's other military branches.

Within the Defense Department, the Air Force has the lion's share of space programs and budget for space operations. It's responsible for supporting and maintaining satellites for GPS, missile warning and nuclear command and control, as well as paying United Launch Alliance and SpaceX to launch national security satellites.

The Army and Navy also have their own space operations.

Consolidating these disparate programs into the Space Force has been slow. Some Air Force missions have transferred to Space Force control or are in the process of doing so — last week, Vice President  Mike Pence  announced that Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida would change their names and become the first two Space Force installations. Eventually all Air Force space missions are supposed to follow suit. But there has been no progress on integrating the Army's or Navy's space missions.