The White House has decided to create an independent branch of the United States military having control over military operations in the outer space by 2020.
Vice president Mike Pence announced the Trump Administration's plan to form the United States Space Force (USSF) as the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces exclusively for fighting space wars.
“America will always seek peace, in space as on earth, but history proves that peace only comes through strength. And in the realm of outer space, the United States Space Force will be that strength in the years ahead,” Pence said during a speech at the Pentagon on Thursday.
.Pence said the White House has taken up the need for “an elite group of war fighters specializing in the domain of space" with the Congress to complete the legislative backing by the end of the year.
There are five military branches of the US military—Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. The proposed United States Space Force (USSF) will be the first new branch of the armed forces to be created since the USAF was formed in 1947.
Pence wanted the Congress to approve $8 billion for establishing "Space Force" as an independent military branch, separate from the US Air Force. The proposal includes formation of a United States Space Command, and a Space Development Agency and an assistant secretary of defense for space.
The proposal to start a new military service was originally floated by President Trump in March 2018. "We're doing a tremendous amount of work in space—I said, maybe we need a new force. We'll call it the space force", he told National Space Council in March 2018. “When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space,” Trump said, “We must have American dominance in space.”
The US intelligence reports suggest that Russia and China have developed technology that can incapacitate or destroy satellites at a time when the US was preoccupied with the War on Terror. Elaborating on the growing threats from enemies, Pence said these nations have "pursued weapons to jam, blind and disable our navigation and communication satellites via electronic attacks from the ground."
In 2007, China successfully targeted its own satellite. Russia developed technology that can hunt down satellite in its orbit. Iran and North Korea have similar programs that might potentially leave the US military without any communication systems.
"As their actions make clear, our adversaries have transformed space into a war-fighting domain already, and the United States will not shrink from this challenge," Pence said.
However, the interstellar plan to fight wars in the cosmos is being opposed by others who argue that a space command already exists within the air force. Created in 1982, with headquarters at Peterson air force base in Colorado, the USAF consists of a Space Command having 30,000 personnel.
The Outer Space Treaty bans weapons of mass destruction being placed in space orbit. But supporters of Trump administration's plan say the treaty would not affect the creation of a Space Force.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis who once voiced opposition to creation of a new branch of the US military is now in favor of a dedicated space force.
The Pentagon thinks a full Space Force is absolutely necessary for maintaining the US space superiority and defending its space assets.
The Trump campaign has sent mass emails asking supporters to vote for a USSF logo from six of the designs it has released online.