US to Create Independent Space Force by 2020

To rule the outer world, you also need a force. Keeping this in mind may be the United States is planning to raise an independent space force by 2020, as indicated by US Vice President Mike Pence. Space force will be the sixth branch of the US Military as envisioned by President Donald Trump.

US Vice President Mike Pence, who also heads the National Space Council, informed that the President will take this idea of raising space force before Congress, so that military and civilians working on space security will be brought under a unified command.

At the space conference, US Vice President Mike Pence said, “Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea, and America will be as dominant there as we are here on Earth. The National Space Council is making recommendations to the president to essentially begin with establishing a unified Space Command, much in the way that we established a Special Forces command. Let’s begin by bringing everyone under a unified command”.

Pence also informed that at present nearly 60,000 people are working on space security in the United States, across different branches of the military and intelligence services. He said, “It will not in the first instance look like other branches of the service that were stood up. It will be a consolidation, we believe, and from there future Congresses and future administrations can grow and expand and nurture ... the Space Force as they see fit”.

Here it is important to note that the US military is composed of five branches- the Army, Air Force (which at present oversees the operations of the space), the Navy, Marines and the Coast Guard.

Now for the success of the project, Congress must approve the proposed plans by the present government. Earlier the issue has sparked controversy among the lawmakers, when the issue of creating a Space Force at par with the US Army or Air Force was raised in the Congress, some of the lawmakers are of the opinion that space must remain under the Air Force.

Mike Pence also informed that the administration would work with the Congress to vote on a law, which will expedite the process of creating an independent Space Force by 2020. In September this year, the head of the US Air Force said that creating a Space Force would cost around 13 billion dollars for a force with 13,000 people in the first five years.