Tag Archives: Space Force

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said drafting the budget for fiscal year 2020 calls for the Pentagon to “put the resources in place” in order to operationalize the national defense strategy. “We are not going to reverse course on all that planning but we will build two budgets,” Shanahan said Friday at the Military Reporters and Editors conference in Arlington, Va.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said the creation of a “space force” as the sixth service branch is “absolutely necessary” to ensure the country’s superiority in space, Defense.gov reported Wednesday. “The U.S. military is the best in the world in space, but our adversaries have taken note and are actively developing and fielding capabilities to potentially deny our usage of space in crisis or war,” he said Tuesday during the National Space Council’s fourth meeting at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C.

Vice President Mike Pence has said the establishment of a “space force” as the sixth military branch seeks to address the “lack of centralized leadership and accountability” over programs that aim to promote national security in space. Pence said Tuesday at the National Space Council’s fourth meeting at the National Defense University that the council would vote on six recommendations for the proposed roadmap to form the new service, which he says would help sort out the "fragmented responsibilities" over national security space initiatives.

A draft policy directive would direct the Defense Department to hand over to the Office of Management and Budget by Dec. 1 a legislative proposal to establish a “space force” as a separate service branch, SpaceNews reported Monday. The proposed Space Policy Directive-4 obtained by the publication would require DoD to submit a budget plan for the space-focused service for inclusion in the president’s fiscal 2020 funding request.

The House Armed Services Committee has asked the Defense Department to provide more data on how it would establish and fund the new “space force,” SpaceNews reported Friday. HASC Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) has called on DoD to submit the data by Nov. 16 before the House panel endorses an approach to form the new space-focused service, according to a copy of the Oct. 4 letter obtained by the publication.

The National Space Council will discuss proposals to establish a space-dedicated service branch at a meeting scheduled for Oct. 23, Space News reported Monday. Vice President Mike Pence said in a tweet that the meeting will cover existing progress and steps leading to the development of a Space Force.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said he intends to arrange tabletop exercises in the fall of this year to help the Defense Department establish and explore the “war fighting attributes” of a new combatant command for space, SpaceNews reported Wednesday. Dunford wrote a memo to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson to address the latter’s concerns about U.S. Space Command’s acquisition responsibilities.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has said the service plans to increase the total number of operational squadrons to 386 and add 40K more personnel by 2030 to counter potential military threats posed by Russia and China, Reuters reported Monday. That figure represents a 24 percent increase from the service’s 312 squadrons today.
 

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has released a memo that lays out the Defense Department’s plan to establish by 2020 a new “space force” that would serve as the country’s sixth service branch, SpaceNews reported Thursday. John Rood, defense undersecretary for policy, will work with the Joint Staff, military services’ secretaries and DoD’s legislative office to come up with a legislative proposal for the new space force for submission to the Office of Management and Budget by Dec. 1, according to a copy of the Monday memo obtained by the publication.
 

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work has said creating a new Space Command under the Pentagon will help address concerns about President Trump’s idea to establish a Space Force, Space News reported Monday.