Why the US needs a Space Force

Now is the time to show leadership by realigning America’s military with the reality that space is an essential and unique domain of warfare

Space has been a hotly contested domain for decades. I can personally attest to this: While I was commander of the International Space Station in 2015, we had to manoeuvre our spaceship to avoid debris left over from a 2007 Chinese anti-satellite-missile demonstration. The threat, however, will get only worse. The US must proactively ensure its ability to operate and defend itself in space — which is why Congress needs to act to finalise the US Space Force as a sixth, independent branch of America’s armed forces.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of space in America’s military operations and civilian life. Since the administration of US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of plans to create a Space Force, there has been a fair amount of criticism stemming from a lack of understanding about what such a force would be. It wouldn’t, of course, be a collection of Star Wars troops fighting battles in outer space. We cannot even call it a “militarisation of space” — which already occurred in the 1950s when the Soviet army launched Sputnik and the US Navy launched Vanguard.

But the Space Force could address serious shortcomings in how effectively the US military is organised. As the Trump administration laid out earlier this month, the first steps towards creating a Space Force would include creating a subunified Space Command, a Space Operations Force that would initially recruit from the ranks of current military members and a Space Development Agency tasked with procuring space hardware.

Although these steps can be taken without major congressional legislation, the final and most important step in creating the Space Force will require legislators to rewrite Title 10 of the US Code, which outlines the role of armed forces. The last major rewrite was undertaken when the US Air Force was created after the Second World War.

Why should Congress make the Space Force a reality? Because space is important and unique enough to deserve its own place at the Defence Department table, ensuring rightful allocation of budget resources and power.

American military uses a principle known as “multidomain warfare”, meaning that when tasked with combat, different services all work jointly across the five domains: Air, sea, land, space and cyber. However, in peacetime, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard “organise, train and equip” only by their specific domain.

Space as a domain is now mature enough to stand alone. Today there are officers who “grew up” in Air Force Space Command, beginning as second lieutenants and making their way through the ranks to four-star generals. It defies logic to keep that domain in the Air Force — akin to having the infantry in the Navy.

What exactly would the Space Force entail? I recommend that such a branch consolidate missions that launch and control satellites in orbit; that develop and procure space-related equipment; and that maintain America’s land-based nuclear missiles as well as its land-based missile-defence system (for example, to protect America from North Korean missiles). I would also consolidate cyber forces into the Space Force. Although cyber is its own domain, it is not yet mature enough to warrant a separate Cyber Force.

The 21st century will present continuous challenges to the US and we must realise there is no “manifest destiny” guaranteeing America’s status as world leader. Now is the time to show leadership and vision by properly realigning America’s military with the reality that space is an essential and unique domain of modern warfare. ■ Terry Virts, a retired US Air Force colonel, had served as commander of the International Space Station.

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