{"id":18222,"date":"2018-12-18T19:22:14","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T11:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/trump-authorizes-revival-of-u-s-space-command-with-space-force-on-agenda\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T19:22:14","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T11:22:14","slug":"trump-authorizes-revival-of-u-s-space-command-with-space-force-on-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/trump-authorizes-revival-of-u-s-space-command-with-space-force-on-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump authorizes revival of U.S. Space Command, with Space Force on agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_469099\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-469099\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-469099\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181218-pence-630x356.jpg\" alt=\"Vice President Mike Pence\" width=\"630\" height=\"356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181218-pence-630x356.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181218-pence-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181218-pence-1260x713.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181218-pence.jpg 1865w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-469099\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vice President Mike Pence delivers remarks at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. (White House via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>President Donald Trump today authorized the Pentagon to set up the U.S. Space Command as its own combatant command, in preparation for creating a Space Force as a separate branch of the military.<\/p>\n<p>The authorization for the Space Command came in the form of a memorandum that doesn\u2019t require congressional approval. Creating the Space Force, however, is dependent on action in Congress&nbsp;\u2014 and with Democrats taking charge of the House, there\u2019s a chance that the force may take a form different from what the White House originally envisioned.<\/p>\n<p>Cost estimates for setting up a Space Force as the first branch of the military to be created since the Air Force\u2019s birth in 1947 range from a few billion dollars to as much as $13 billion. Some policymakers favor less expensive alternatives&nbsp;\u2014 such as a Space Corps that would be created within Air Force, just as the Marine Corps was created under the Navy\u2019s administrative aegis.<\/p>\n<p>Among those policymakers is U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who\u2019s due to take over the chairmanship of the House Armed Services Committee. \u201cWe will have a conversation within our committee about the best way to place a greater emphasis on space,\u201d he told reporters last week.<\/p>\n<p>The Space Command should help raise the profile of military space operations. During a visit to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Vice President Mike Pence said the command will \u201coversee all our military activities in space\u201d across all service branches.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Vice President Pence Delivers Remarks at Kennedy Space Center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2I8DAIurQ1s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He noted that nations including China and Russia are trying to assert dominance in space by developing electronic satellite jamming weapons and anti-satellite weapons. \u201cFrankly, these new challenges demand new and innovative responses,\u201d Pence said.<\/p>\n<p>Pence said the Air Force\u2019s GPS III satellites serve as an example. The next-generation spacecraft are designed to be eight times more resistant to jamming efforts.<\/p>\n<p>The vice president visited Florida today in hopes of watching the liftoff of the first GPS III satellite, but SpaceX scrubbed the launch in the countdown\u2019s final minutes due to anomalous readings from sensors on the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage. The next launch attempt is scheduled for Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most important thing is that we get that rocket up safely and securely, and we achieve that mission,\u201d Pence said. \u201cI know this bird is going to fly, and when it flies, it\u2019s going to make a difference for the security and prosperity of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Space Command previously existed as a combatant command from 1985 to 2002, but it was folded into the U.S. Strategic Command when the Northern Command was created \u2014 due to what was then a requirement to have no more than 10 unified combatant commands.<\/p>\n<p>That requirement has now been lifted, and Pence said \u201cthis Space Command will be the 11th combatant command in the U.S. military.\u201d It will take in 18,000 military and civilian personnel working in space operations, and will be headed by a four-star general who is yet to be named.<\/p>\n<p>Pence said the White House will proceed with plans for the Space Force, in cooperation with congressional leaders. \u201cIn the days ahead, President Trump will also sign a new space policy directive that will lay out our plans and our timeline to create the new sixth branch of the armed forces, the U.S. Space Force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The White House still plans to have the Space Force in place by the end of 2020, which happens to be the next presidential election year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vice President Mike Pence delivers remarks at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. (White House via YouTube) President Donald Trump today authorized the Pentagon to set up the U.S. Space Command as its own combatant command, in preparation for creating a Space Force as a separate branch of the military. The authorization for the Space Command came [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[437,2539,1974,439,4467,332],"class_list":["post-18222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-air-force","tag-donald-trump","tag-mike-pence","tag-military","tag-politics","tag-space-force"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}