The 3,500-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) recognizes the “final frontier” of space as a warfighting domain.
To Infinity and Beyond!
The Department of Defense released a long report detailing the need for the new military branch. It seems futuristic to some, who cannot fathom a threat to U.S. soil from space, but our government believes we might soon face threats from above:
“The United States harnesses the benefits of space for communications, financial networks, public safety, weather monitoring, transportation, scientific exploration, and more. The use of space has also greatly expanded the capability and capacity of the U.S. military to anticipate threats, to respond rapidly to crises, and to project power globally, at substantially less cost in lives and treasure than in the past. Because these advantages are vital to our modern way of life and modern way of war, unfettered access to and freedom to operate in space is a vital national interest.”
Air Force Chief of Staff, General David Goldfein explained that China already has a full set of anti-satellite weapons, which include small, refrigerator-sized co-orbitals that targets do not recognize. They have jammers that could shut down GPS and U.S. communications systems.
The U.S. Department of Defense manages a hefty budget – $738 billion established for the next fiscal year. Only a tiny slice, $72.4 million, is set aside for getting the sixth branch up and running. That amount establishes Space Command – the administrative department – and the Chief of Space Operations (CSO) position. Air Force General John Raymond is set to take the controls for the first year and will report directly to the Air Force Secretary. But the man also will join the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Basically, year one is all administration, training curricula, and posturing for year number two with an increased budget for admitting cadets to the program. Let’s face it, weapons of war in space will be a tad different from the norm.
The plan is to add just 200 cadets with increases to possibly 15,000 total enlisted and civilian employees by the end of fiscal 2024.
