WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBCNC) – Calling space a “warfighting domain,” Vice President Mike Pence outlined plans for the creation of military branch to be called “The United States Department of the Space Force.”
During remarks at the Pentagon, Pence said the goal is for the Space Force to be operational by 2020.
Pence reiterated President Trump’s calls for American dominance in space in the face of threats to satellites and other areas from foreign adversaries such as China and Russia.
The Space Force would initially draw experts from existing space and military program in becoming the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.
“Space is one of our vital national interests in the sense of our use of space, our operations in space, and it is becoming a warfighting domain and we have got to adapt to that reality, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said, “It’s on par with the air, land, sea and cyberspace domains in terms of it being contested and it’s now a domain in which we must be equally prepared as all of those other domains. It’s no longer a new domain, it’s a domain and we’ve got to be able to compete, to deter and to win.
Vice President Mike Pence said, “Now the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield, where America’s best and bravest will be called to deter and defeat a new generation of threats to our people, to our nation. The time has come to establish the United States Space Force.”
Any new funding and creation of the Space Force will have to be approved by Congress.
It would be led by a civilian who would report to the Secretary of Defense.
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