Trump floats the idea of creating a 'Space Force' to fight wars in space
Source: CNBC
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said his new national security strategy recognizes that space is a theater of war, and he floated the idea of creating a Space Force, a branch of the military that would operate outside of earth's atmosphere.
"Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air, and sea," Trump told a an audience of service members at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. "We may even have a Space Force, develop another one, Space Force. We have the Air Force, we'll have the Space Force."
The president described how he'd originally coined the term as a joke, while discussing U.S. government spending and private investment in space. "I said, 'maybe we need a new force, we'll call it the Space Force,' and I was not really serious. Then I said, 'what a great idea,' maybe we'll have to do that," Trump told the crowd of Marines.
"So think of that, Space Force," Trump continued, "because we are spending a lot and we have a lot of private money coming in, tremendous. You saw what happened the other day, and tremendous success. From the very beginning, many of our astronauts have been soldiers and air men, coast guard men and marines. And our service members will be vital to ensuring America continues to lead the way into the stars."
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/trump-floats-the-idea-of-creating-a-space-force-to-fight-wars-in-space.html
Nice one, Dr. Evil!
Bleacher Creature
(11,256 posts)On the condition that he personally man the first test mission!!
Initech
(100,059 posts)They should probably just deploy Skynet and get it over with!
MFM008
(19,803 posts)Lost in space.
...
lunasun
(21,646 posts)The president described how he'd originally coined the term as a joke, while discussing U.S. government spending and private investment in space. "I said, 'maybe we need a new force, we'll call it the Space Force,' and I was not really serious. Then I said, 'what a great idea,' maybe we'll have to do that," Trump told the crowd of Marines.
Initech
(100,059 posts)lunasun
(21,646 posts)47of74
(18,470 posts)And make them so mad that they declare a genocidal holy war against humanity?
dhol82
(9,352 posts)Schmuck!
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)truthisfreedom
(23,141 posts)To infamy and beyond!
errant boy
(69 posts)paleotn
(17,906 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,783 posts)djacq
(1,633 posts)[link:
|DinahMoeHum
(21,783 posts)John Fante
(3,479 posts)How creative..for a 4-year old. If he had to come up with an acronym for the program his tiny brain would explode.
FSogol
(45,470 posts)JHB
(37,158 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,783 posts)"If He's Our Future. . .We're History"
jmowreader
(50,550 posts)Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)Like "space" is someplace you can go with a ship full of soldiers and fight a battle. What an idiot.
llmart
(15,536 posts)What a complete asshole.
paleotn
(17,906 posts)that can't even get people to LEO anymore. That has to hitch rides with the Ruuskies.
TomCADem
(17,387 posts)Zorro
(15,733 posts)Currently the Air Force is the military branch with the primary responsibility for acquiring launch and space hardware, but that creates internal budgetary conflicts with aircraft programs that have been the traditional Air Force focus. The thought is that a separate Space Force military branch would remove those internal AF budget priority conflicts.
There is some advocacy within the military for heading in this direction, but there are stronger advocates for maintaining the status quo.
jmowreader
(50,550 posts)However! The best and least expensive way to do that would be to merge the National Reconnaissance Office and the armed services' space commands (all four services have a space command; the Marines' space command isn't very big and the Air Force's is huge) into one organization with the current NRO officials in charge of it. If Trump wants to call that "Space Force," that's fine.
Let's just hope the bastard doesn't decide he needs to buy X-wing fighters and rocket-powered Winnebagos.
Zorro
(15,733 posts)There are Title 10/Title 50 constraints (i.e. war fighting vs. intelligence collection) that preclude that option, in addition to the typical rice bowl issues.
You're right, Trump isn't capable of making sensible decisions, but it sounds to me that someone around him has been talking about creating a separate Space Force, and it's rattling around in his head. Sounds as if he wants to claim it as his original idea.
jmowreader
(50,550 posts)NRO is already part of the Department of Defense.
procon
(15,805 posts)LudwigPastorius
(9,127 posts)Trump wants "Wands from Don".
progree
(10,901 posts)https://www.wired.com/story/the-space-junk-problem-is-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-gnarlier/
Incidents like these served as clear signs from above that something must finally be done about space junk. Its proliferation threatens not only current and future space missions but also global communicationsmobile phone networks, satellite television, radio broadcasts, weather tracking, and military surveillance, even the dashboard GPS devices that keep us from getting lost. The number of manufactured objects cluttering the sky is now expected to double every few years as large objects weaken and split apart and new collisions create more Kesslerian debris, leading to yet more collisions.
NASAs Bacon puts it bluntly: The Kessler syndrome is in effect. Were in a runaway environment, and we wont be able to use space in the future if we dont start dealing with this now.
https://www.wired.com/2010/05/ff_space_junk/
A paint fleck traveling at 18,000 mph can penetrate a space suit and kill.
And this is without a space war.
SergeStorms
(19,192 posts)of a 71 year old with a 5 year old's brain.
lastlib
(23,200 posts)1967 Treaty on Outer Space bans all weapons from outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies.
https://www.state.gov/t/isn/5181.htm
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,731 posts)Two space aliens looking down on Earth
#1 I see that the dominant life form has developed space weapons
#2 Does that mean they are an emerging intelligence?
#1 I don't think so. They have them aimed at themselves.
AnnieBW
(10,422 posts)Everyone knows that they can't hit anything that they shoot at!
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)Initech
(100,059 posts)dogknob
(2,431 posts)Canoe52
(2,948 posts)meadowlander
(4,393 posts)The sad truth is that this is probably the only way nasa will be properly funded
Permanut
(5,596 posts)Bayard
(22,038 posts)Why is that the first thing that comes into his pea brain? He's obviously not a Star Trek fan, or he would know space is a wondrous new frontier for peaceful exploration, learning, and perhaps meeting other civilizations.
Of course, this is the same asshole that is selling off our national monuments.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)BaronChocula
(1,535 posts)TomVilmer
(1,832 posts)The preamble of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 speaks of the desire of states to use outer space for peaceful purposes. This reference leads some lawyers to believe that the treaty in fact establishes a general prohibition on military activities in this domain, implying that the deployment of space weapons or ASATs is illegal.
In reality, the treaty does not include any legally binding provisions concerning the peaceful use of outer space. In fact, the reference to the peaceful use of space is not even included in the operational part of the treaty. Instead, it simply appears in the preamble as an objective.
The treaty was drafted by the two Cold War superpowers, during a highly tense period in which both nations had already made extensive use of outer space for military purposes through the deployment of reconnaissance or early-warning satellites. Consequently, neither state was willing to place legal restrictions on such activities.
The Outer Space Treaty only explicitly prohibits the militarization of the Moon and other celestial bodies, as well as the placement of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in outer space. However, the prohibition of WMDs only applies to placed and stationed objects, or objects installed on celestial bodies, meaning that transits carrying weapons would be allowed.
https://isnblog.ethz.ch/security/preventing-future-conflicts-in-outer-space
JHB
(37,158 posts)Ferretherder
(1,446 posts)...enact legislation and taxation to secure the necessary funding; then, instead, use that money to end hunger and homelessness across the entire world.