(Newswire.net — December 25, 2019) — US President Donald Trump has officially announced the creation of a new branch of the US Army – the Space Forces, with the aim of more effectively defending US interests in space, and in particular satellites for navigation and communication.
This branch of the US military has officially been formed by signing a defense budget for the fiscal year 2020. Congress approved $40 million for Space Force operations and maintenance in the fiscal year 2020 appropriations, Space News reports.
The media estimates that by signing off on the budget, Trump has won one of his highest national security priorities, just two days after the House of Representatives voted for his recall.
“Space is the world’s new war-fighting domain,” Trump said on Friday during a signing ceremony at Joint Base Andrews. He said that the US is the leader in militarizing space, however not distinct enough from Russia and China. Trump also said he is confident that the US will soon to be “far ahead of everyone.”
Donald Trump appointed John Raymond the commander in chief of the US Space Force.
For the first year of its existence, the American Space Force is awarded with $ 40 million from the budget and will employ 200 people in total.
This branch of the US military, however, is not designed to send combat forces into space but to defend US interests from space.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that today’s universe has become a kind of a haven for war. He stressed, however, that maintaining US dominance in space would not be the mission of the new service.
The official launch of the US Space Force program is the next logical step after the Pentagon activated U.S. Space Command on Aug. 29, 2019.
Intentions of the White House to defend American interests in and from space is not well accepted among other world leaders. Russia is pacing up its intention to build a base on the Moon, but the President of the Russian Federation believes that Washington is starting a dangerous game.
“The U.S. military-political leadership openly considers space as a military theater and plans to conduct operations there,” said the Russian Federation president Mr. Putin, at a meeting with defense officials in Sochi, cited by Bloomberg.
“The situation requires us to pay increased attention to strengthening the orbital group, as well as the rocket and space industry as a whole,” Mr Putin said.
China also attacks the US Space Force as a threat to peace. “The relevant U.S. actions are a serious violation of the international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, undermine global strategic balance and stability, and pose a direct threat to outer space peace and security,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that China is “deeply concerned about it and resolutely opposed to it.”
In July 2019, the French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of French space command within the French air force to improve the country’s defense capabilities. Following the creation of American space command, Mr. Macron stressed that France considers space a “true national security issue”.
German chancellor Angela Merkel fumed on Mr. Macron’s intention to push EU countries to space for this move is both irresponsible and financial nightmare. Dirk Hoke, the boss of Airbus’s Defense and Space division, however, said that “Space needs to be considered as the fifth dimension of security policy.”
It is obvious that in next decade the tensions between nations on Earth will reach orbital proportions, quite literally.