President Trump Calls on Pentagon to Create New Military Branch: A ‘Space Force’

President Donald Trump called for a new “Space Force” to be added to the U.S. military as an armed service separate from the Pentagon’s five traditional uniformed branches. “When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space,” Trump said Monday at a White House event on space policy. “We must have American dominance in space.” Trump has been considering creation of a Space Force for months over resistance from the Air Force, which currently oversees military space programs. He announced his support for the idea at a White House meeting of the National Space Council as the administration presented a directive for setting a goal for a new moon landing within 10 years. Congress would have to approve a new military service, and lawmakers have been divided on the idea. Russia, China Much of the push to formalize an off-planet branch of the U.S. armed forces is motivated by space investment by Russia and China, the latter of which is eager to establish itself as a superpower with plans for an orbiting space station and a permanent outpost on the moon. Russia under President Vladimir Putin has become increasingly aggressive, annexing Crimea, deploying more sophisticated nuclear weapons and waging conventional warfare in eastern Ukraine and Syria. He, too, has aspirations for a military role in space. Robotic Explorers On peaceful space exploration, the administration announced a directive setti...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Bloomberg Donald Trump onetime Pentagon space Source Type: news