Posted on 02/20/2019 8:20:01 PM PST by BenLurkin
President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4) today (Feb. 19), ordering the Pentagon to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the United States military, to go along with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
But the Space Force still has a big hoop to jump through: Congress must approve the creation of any new military branch.
The main goal of the Space Force is to secure and extend American dominance of the space domain, Trump and other White House officials have said. Such reasoning has drawn opposition from various quarters.
"President Trump has called space a new warfighting domain. Space is important to militaries, that’s true, but it is only a small piece of what happens up there," Laura Grego, a senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security program, said in a statement today.
"Eighty percent of the nearly 2,000 satellites are civilian, providing critical communications and economic services for humanity’s well-being," Grego added. "We need to take care of space. If concentrating authority in a space force creates an incentive for nations to build space weapons that increase the likelihood of conflict, it would be a profoundly bad idea."
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
I’m signing up. After watching a few episodes of The Orville, I think I’ll take a crack at that.
I recall hearing today this would be part of the Air Force after all or that the Air Force wasn’t giving up its space assets? Seems duplication if that is the case.
This seems to be a formality. We have all sorts of stuff up there already.
There apparently is already a space force that we are not supposed to know about, and we hardly do.
I have a news flash for Laura Grego....the Russians and the Chinese are already building space weapons.
It would be a “profoundly bad idea” for America NOT to do likewise.
I’ve seen a few episodes of “The Orville.”
It seems like a spoof of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” but it did make me laugh at loud.
If Pelosi wants military transport, let the Prez offer her a seat on the first rocket to Mars.
If Pelosi wants military transport, let the Prez offer her a seat on the first rocket to Mars.
“at loud” should be “out loud.” Sigh.
The Union of Concerned (Communist) Scientists are deeply concerned.
If you enlist, don’t let them issue you a red shirt.
I expect it to a separate service within the Department of the Air Force, like the Marines are a separate service in the Department of the Navy. I expect the Army and Navy to fight it with their buds in Congress.
I wondered why Reagan didn’t do this when he was in office. The natural procession after defensive satellites in space should have been manned ones. Why has nobody since then put this idea out there?
If we don’t establish dominance in space, we’re sunk. I guarantee you China and Russia will both do everything they can to put a military presence in space, and Trump didn’t have to announce it to prod them into action. I’ve suspected for a long time the Russian participation in the existing Space Station is secretly aimed at research toward a space based military presence. And how much info goes back to Russia about what we do in the space station?
This is the natural next level, especially with nations like Iran trying to develop long range nuclear weapons. I just hope someone can figure out a way to neutralize them while still in orbit without detonation. In many cases the EMT blast would be devastating even if the weapon itself was detonated in space.
It’s scary when you think about it, all Iran or North Korea or anyone else would have to do is put a nuclear tipped missile in orbit, wait till it’s over the US at a low enough altitude, and when it detonates, the electrical grid over 2/3 of the country goes POOF...(is it 17 miles up? I can’t remember)
I’m glad to see Trump doing this, it has to happen before Russia or China can establish space dominance. Whoever controls space has a huge advantage. And what kind of laser based weapons do they have that we have no idea about? I’ve seen some claims that the US military has tested laser weapons that can cut a humvee in half from miles away. Some are supposedly mounted on current naval vessels. Rumor? Food for thought...
We have no idea what kind of secret testing has gone on at places like Area 51 and a couple of other super secret military areas. And what about long term affects of zero gravity? Have they figured out some of those problems? I do know muscles tend to atrophy...
Folks, it’s not science fiction any more, we have to face reality, time to get troops into space was last month...
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