However, it is not clear whether the measure will be approved by the House of Representatives, which already voted against it in the budget proposal
US President Donald Trump signed a regulation that means the creation of a space force, which will be the sixth arm of the US military. If the arm is indeed established, the Air Force, which currently owns the space assets, will be required to transfer them to the new arm, including the preparations for a space war and the protection of the American satellites from harm.
"We have the Air Force, and we will have a Space Force - separate but equal." Said on the White House website.
By doing so, Trump is responding to the expansion of Russia and China's activities in preparations for space warfare. Russia is gaining strength in space so that it can gain superiority in future battles on Earth, while China created the Strategic Support Forces in 2015, which unifies the management of space, cyber and electronic warfare units. The two countries may, in a tense situation, neutralize the American satellites or even physically damage them using space weapons.
Currently, no country has an independent space force. Russia had an independent organization that existed between 1992-1997 and 2001-2001; It was re-established in 2015 as a branch of a new unit dealing with emerging technologies. With this exception, the space arm is almost always part of the Air Force, which can function as an air and space force or as a space force, as the United States Air Force and the Israeli Air Force do.
Trump has previously expressed his intention to establish a space force, saying in March that "like the army and the navy, but only for the field of space, because we spend a lot of money in space." Congress also pushed last year for the establishment of the new arm.
But support separately and budgets separately. In the budget proposal in the defense budget section, both Congress and the Senate voted against establishing a space arm and preferred to leave space defense the responsibility of the Air Force. As mentioned, Trump decided to override this decision through an administrative order.
Now a debate is developing in whose hands is the authority - Congress (as it was when the Air Force was established in 1947) or the President. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also opposed the move in an appearance in October before members of Congress: "I oppose the creation of a new service and with it an additional organizational layer at a time when we are concentrating on reducing overheads and consolidating resources."
Defense experts say that the only thing Trump can do is order the Defense Department to prepare a plan and begin preparations to establish the space arm, but he still needs congressional approval to establish the arm."
More on the subject on the science website
The dragon and the space: about space warfare in China, by Tal Inbar
One response
Okay, so who will command the US ballistic missiles?
And at a later stage, will the US space marines belong to the space arm, or will a separate arm be established for the space marines (as the marines today are a separate arm from the US Navy)?