Congress announced a new version of next year’s defense spending bill on Monday, paving the way for Space Force to become the sixth branch of the U.S. military.
The new Space Force will be tasked with protecting U.S. interests in space, including everything from GPS systems to potentially deadly space junk flying at hundreds-of-miles per hour. For its supporters, the new service is a long time coming.
“The case for a Space Force is overwhelming if you look at the substance,” Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper told reporters during a round table briefing on Wednesday.
The new force will operate under the United States Air Force and will recruit from within the ranks of Air Force Space Command.
Congress has budgeted $72.4 million to help create the new branch. Lawmakers streamlined the process by not requiring any additional new positions, which keeps the cost within the Trump administration’s proposed budget request. The initial size will be small, but likely will grow as needs increase. An Air Force strategic overview published in February estimated the Space Force would start with 200 personnel and grow to 15,000 by the end of 2024.
“It’s still going to be by far the smallest service,” Republican Rep. Mike Rogers said. “But this is not a manpower service, this is a technology-driven service.”
Lawmakers do not believe recruitment will be a problem going forward.
“Already at the Air Force Academy, there’s a ton of interest in space, so the new graduates are already headed in that direction,” Cooper said.
The bill creates a position for the Chief of Space Operations, who will report to the secretary of the Air Force and sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff with the heads of the other armed services. The relationship will be similar to the existing Navy-Marine Corps hierarchy, wherein the Marines operate underneath the Navy but retain some autonomy. For the first year, the Chief of Space Operations will also serve as the head of U.S. Space Command, which is currently under the command of Air Force Gen. John “Jay” Raymond.
Rogers and Cooper have been the Space Force’s biggest proponents on Capitol Hill, but others do not want to see the plan come to be.
“The big problem came from the Air Force,” Rogers said, adding that Air Force leadership had been using space funding as a “cookie jar” for other programs. “They did not want to see that money pot taken away.”
The Air Force did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on these claims, though Rogers said that Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett is “100% on board.”
Dan Grazier, a military fellow with the Project on Government Oversight, told the Washington Examiner the solution to protecting space isn’t creating more bureaucracy.
“For the time being, all of our military space interests are tied to supporting the operations of the existing services for communications, navigation, weather observations, surveillance, and missile warning,” Grazier said. “It is a really bad idea to create bureaucratic barriers between the main effort and the support forces as it will actually hinder that relationship rather than enhance it.”
Rogers and Cooper expect opposition to the Space Force to continue, but are prepared to ensure that it thrives.
“There’s been people who have been trying to kill this baby in the womb for three years,” Rogers said. “And I believe there’s going to be some people who want to see it die in the crib over the next few years. We’re not going to let that happen.”
Lawmakers are expected to pass the defense spending bill on Wednesday afternoon.
