Tag Archives: Space Force

Rep. Mac Thornberry believes that setting up a Space Force as a new branch of the U.S. military will continue receiving support from both sides of the aisle even though the House of Representatives is now under the control of the Democratic Party. Thornberry's remarks come even as incoming House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Adam Smith has expressed opposition to the establishment of a Space Force as an independent military branch, Space News reported Tuesday.

Heather Wilson, secretary of the U.S. Air Force, said the service will continue advancing its space capabilities amid the Trump administration’s push to reorganize the Pentagon and establish a Space Force, SpaceNews reported Monday. Wilson said the Air Force is working on programs and tactics to protect U.S. satellites from adversaries. 

President Donald Trump issued Tuesday a memorandum that orders the establishment of a unified combatant command that would focus on space. Trump directs Defense Secretary James Mattis to nominate commander and deputy chiefs for U.S. Space Command, according to a White House memo published Tuesday.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been tasked with providing recommendations to the Pentagon for establishing a proposed agency that would lead efforts to build and acquire space technologies for the military, Space News reported Thursday. DARPA will study the process and approach for the Space Development Agency following a directive by Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said the service has received congressional backing to continue its space mission amid the continued push of the Trump administration to establish a Space Force, Space News reported Monday.

The Pentagon’s top acquisition official said establishing a Space Force would help the government organize space programs currently spread out across multiple military services and agencies, Space News reported Saturday. Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said the Department of Defense has been facing challenges to develop a unified strategy for investments in space. The official suggested reorganizing the government’s “federated series of efforts” under the Space Force to “get focus and clarity.”

Defense Secretary James Mattis said that the Defense Department is doing all it can to carry out President Trump’s instruction to establish a Space Force, Defense One reported Wednesday.

Speaking before the media at the Pentagon on Nov. 21, Mattis said defense officials are “trying to produce what the president wants, which is a Space Force capability.” However, the President had initially called for the formation a Space Force to be a new, independent military service. An Oct. 26 memo from the White House revealed the Trump Administration is considering alternative organizational arrangements.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said that the Office of the Secretary of Defense expects the establishment of a Space Force to cost less than the amount that the U.S. Air Force had earlier projected, Defense News reported Thursday. Air Force leadership said in a Sept. 14 memo that transitioning the service’s space functions into a separate, independent command would initially cost $3B and $13B overall in the course of five years.

Fred Kennedy, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Tactical Technology Office, has said efforts to reorganize the space architecture and procure new technologies align with plans to modernize the military space business, Space News reported Monday.

Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, recently said that U.S. assets in space are now more vulnerable than at any other time in the past, National Defense Magazine reported Monday. Speaking at the MILCOM conference held in Los Angeles on Oct. 29, Thompson described the space domain as congested and contested, and proposed that the U.S. deploy space architecture that is more secure, agile and resilient.