“Space Force?”

^^I guess I would disagree with your comment that nothing much came from Reagan's speech on SDI (the media dubbed it "Star Wars') . . . given the work has gone on over the 35 years . . . MDA was greated and is active . . . testing continues to improve the capability and the reliability (interception is a very hard problem) . . . there are now ground based interceptors in Alaska (along with ship based interceptors), and while there may not be enough interceptors to stop an all out attack from Russia, there is at least a limited capability to stop a limited attack. We can debate whether the money spent has been worth it, but a lot of money has been spent. I think Reagan's goal is still in play . . . to create a defensive capability that would make the use of ICBMs against the US impractical . . . agree it has not yet been achieved, but MDA continues to work on it . . .

I do agree with what I believe is your notion that just because it is said in a speech, doesn't make it so . . . much has yet to happen . . .
 
Falcon A said:
I do agree with what I believe is your notion that just because it is said in a speech, doesn't make it so . . . much has yet to happen
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Same here, that was the main point of my original remark. Leaders can make speeches about 'visions'/'ambitions'.....etc...........but that doesn't mean implementation will happen instantly (or even be in the form originally described). A lot of things need to take place to turn a stated direction into some kind of result, regardless of who is president.
 
The problem with creating a "Space Force" is that you don't even truly need a military organization to do what the AF currently does in space. The only reason the AF hangs onto the mission right now is so they can receive a higher budget. DoD civilians and contractors can do practically everything the Air Force already does. I'm in the space career field, and there are actually more civilians than military at our site that are classed as "mission-essential". Even if a so called "war" does break out in space, people are not going to be dying. Yes, what happens in space can have big implications on what happens here on the ground, but you don't need a soldier's mindset to operate billion dollar assets in space. I'd say rather than create a separate service branch, just create a civilian agency (similar to NASA) that is in charge of all space assets. I've been pretty pleased with Pres. Trump's administration so far, but I have to say that this is just a bad idea that is wasting the Pentagon's time. Hopefully congress has the good sense to shoot it down.
 
On the off chance that an aspiring mid/cadet made it all the way to the @Tex232 post, NASA has a number of facilities around the country. NASA offers internships which would be completely applicable to a “Space Force”. The internships are offered in the summer and during the Academic year. My DS enjoyed one at Goddard in Maryland (concerned with objects within Earth’s orbit) and one at Jet Propulsion Labs (concerned with objects beyond Earth’s orbit. Think Mars rover.)

On the off chance that someone at DOD has the stones to tell President Trump to get a grip and there is no Space Force in the next 30 years, it is an excellent opportunity get practical engineering experience.

For those truly interested in a “Space Career”, robotics may be the most wide open field. If there were more native born Americans willing to make the academic commitment, there might not be the need to start a trade war.
 
cb -- NASA is great. I work at NASA. But NASA isn't what the military Space Force or the Space Corps or whatever it is called will be about. NASA will continue to do the mission of exploration (human and robotic) it is chartered to do and will do the international cooperation required (think International Space Station) to accomplish that mission.

The so called "Space Force" would have a different mission, focused on space situational awareness (what is in Earth orbit and what is it doing), what is happening on Earth (think NRO, ISR, missile warning, and other spooky stuff); support to military forces (military comm, military Wx, GPS for targeting, etc.) and perhaps even the mission for near Earth object detection/protection.

Prior to coming to NASA I had a fulsome career doing space-related "stuff" as an AF officer assigned for many of my 24 1/2 years on active duty in and "around" the NRO. My bias is that a "Space Force" manned like the AF element of the NRO was manned in years past, would be a good thing. It would not need to be a large military and/or civilian force. It would emphasize technical competence as well as acquisition savvy along with space-related tactical and operational training and experience. I am hopeful the creation of a "Space Force" will be a positive thing; however, there is a lot that yet needs to be worked out.
 
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THParent said:
My thoughts are this: If the SecDef doesn't like it, I don't like it. CHAOS is The Man. :)
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> I agree, but I haven't seen anything that suggests that SecDef is against it. (I haven't looked hard, but frankly, think its unlikely that Gen. Mattis is going to but heads with the President on this one. At this point, its' little more than a concept.

Devil Doc said:
You had me at Chaos.
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> Little known or not well publicized, but CHAOS has nothing to do with wreaking havoc on the enemy. It stands for "Colonel has an outstanding solution." Story is that it was an inside joke with his staff.

tibreaker said:
On a more serious note though, do you think that Air Force cadets need to worry about being siphoned off into this new branch?
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Capt MJ said:
There are many, many things that would have to happen before a new uniformed service, armed force, any flavor force, could be stood up. The wheels of bureaucracy grind exceedingly slowly.
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> Agree 100%. Nothing happens fast in the military, or in Washington. Soooo many details that have to addressed, and alot of bigger fish to fry at this time.

All mime's and joking aside (and I've made enough of them), upon further reflection, perhaps the idea of a Space Force is not a completely far fetched idea. It's forward thinking -- for years there has been a (I believe unwritten) rule against weaponizing space, but that will not last forever, and developing the ability to fight and defend ourselves in Space may be important some day --probably long after most of us are gone. You have to start somewhere, and shaking up the status quo by creating another branch of the Armed Forces might be the catalyst. I'm sure there are pro's and con's of establishing a new branch, but one advantage is preempting the natural turf war between the existing services ...only time will tell where this leads.
 
I maybe heard this wrong, but when Senator Gary Hart was alive, he tried to change the name of the Air Force Academy to something like Space Academy. The joke going around was that those attending would be known as Space Cadets.
 
To be fair to President Trump, Secretary Mattis voiced his opposition to the "Space Corps" idea that the Brass from the USAF were floating around, last year.
 
THParent said:
To be fair to President Trump, Secretary Mattis voiced his opposition to the "Space Corps" idea that the Brass from the USAF were floating around, last year.
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He voiced opposition to it because it’s a dumb idea. Again, it doesn’t take someone with a military background to put inputs in a computer that controls a satellite, for example. Not a huge fan of Mattis but he’s right on this one.
 
Tex232 said:
He voiced opposition to it because it’s a dumb idea. Again, it doesn’t take someone with a military background to put inputs in a computer that controls a satellite, for example. Not a huge fan of Mattis but he’s right on this one.
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Sorry Tex ... IMHO you are way off the map here ... what you said is like saying “it doesn’t take someone with a military background to fly an airplane”. You are right that it doesn’t take someone with a military background to fly a commercial communication satellite or a commercial airliner, but if the satellite or the airplane is going to execute or support a military mission, a military background can come in handy. Military personnel are doing the military space mission today. The question is one of focus. The Air Corps use to be in the Army. It is now the Air Force. The question is whether it is time to break out the space focused elements within the AF. The merits of the idea are yet to be determined and will depend on the details.
 
Falcon A said:
what you said is like saying “it doesn’t take someone with a military background to fly an airplane”.
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You’re absolutely right, and as I’m sure your aware of, the services are increasingly using civilian contractors to accomplish aviation related missions both here in the states and overseas.

However, my point is nothing about space screams title 10. There are plenty of US government organizations that currently support military missions but employ mainly civilians. The NSA, FBI, and CIA just to name a few. There’s no reason some similar agency could not take over (or be created) to accomplish everything we do in space.
 
Old Navy BGO said:
> Agree 100%. Nothing happens fast in the military, or in Washington. Soooo many details that have to addressed, and alot of bigger fish to fry at this time.
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Congressmen Mike Rogers said that he expects Space Force language to be in the 2020 NDAA. So this may actually become a possibility sooner than most people think. Especially now that the Air Force cant publicly go against what President Trump has said. If it does materialize, do you think that they would just pull people from the space AFSC's, or do you think that they would ultimately pull in folks from other AFSC's (like security forces, logistics, intel, etc.) in order to man this new force? I'm wondering because non space related AFSC's currently fall under Air Force Space Command.
 
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tibreaker said:
So this may actually become a possibility sooner than most people think. Especially now that the Air Force cant publicly go against what President Trump has said.
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Except Congress failed to pass the most recent version of the NDAA that also included “space force”. What makes you think they will pass it the next time around? And as far as Trump goes, he can write as many executive orders as he wishes, but Congress is the only authority that can stand up a new branch.

If they were to create one however, my guess is they would try to pull just the space AFSC’s from the AF. However it’s also possible that the other services’ space assets could be merged into the “space force” as well.
 
I made it to the round of 120 of the last astronaut selection. What I’m being told from my channels are 3-5 years until the first space force “uniformed” person comes to fruition. Also they will pull from various branches to make up the force. Even though space force will be an American force, we’d need a presence/ access to the international space station. Again, it’s all just speculation at this point.
 
One thing is for sure - there are O-5 and 0-6 action officers on every staff in the Pentagon, as well as select major field staffs - creating white papers, point papers, PowerPoint decks and blizzards of downward-drifting snowflake taskers. Turf battles pending, funding flails inevitable, pitched infighting predictable.
As long as something gets named Starfleet Academy, I’m happy.

I hope Doc Mabry gets the nod!
 
Falcon A said:
Nice article in Space Review written by an Air Force Fellow that served part of her fellowship in my office . . . enjoy!

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3520/1
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A former high school student of mine wrote me a nice email awhile back. She was doing an internship at NASA. She is an amazing young lady. She has the kidney disease that stunts growth. She had her license to fly gliders. She knew tons of stuff about space and aviation. While in high school, she said she would be an astronaut some day. Being an "expert" on the qualifications for the astronaut program, I in my mind DQd her physically. I'm a lot of times too cynical with a half empty glass. She got her foot in the NASA door. She just may some day indeed reach the stars.
 
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