United States Space Force: to conquer space

(To Alessandro Rugolo)
22/12/18

A few days ago the news came that President Trump gave the order to create the "Military Space Command".
Of course, the United States has long been involved in military operations in space, but in this case it is a first-rate organizational change, the new US Space Force in fact, it will be the sixth armed service of the United States of America, like:
- US Army;
- US Marine Corps;
- US Navy;
- US Air Force;
- US Coast Guard.

According to a document (still unofficial) seen from DefenseNews the new branch will be included in the US Air Force Department. 
The new service will be placed under the guidance of an officer general who will depend on the new Undersecretariat for Space, also it will consist of an active service component and a reserve component and will have to develop both the combat and support functions within it. and will be enabled for offensive and defensive operations in space.

The statement seems to clarify the relationship between "Space" and "Air", subordinating the first to the second, at least temporarily. Now we have to wait for the spending forecasts for the next few years in the sector to understand if the initiative will have an effective follow-up, the birth of the new service can not be separated from a reasonable allowance that will be necessary for the first needs.

From a strategic point of view, the initiative of President Trump goes in the direction of occupying as soon as possible a domain that is becoming more and more frequented by the other "super powers": China, India and Russia in particular but not only.

One might ask what the European Union will do in such an important sector both for the development of the industry of the future and for the strategic military point of view. The control of space is in fact a further step towards the supremacy of the US, which thus seek to maintain the world record increasingly frequently called into question.

Spatial initiatives exist in the European field but the lack of a real common foreign policy (with the consequent lack of a medium and long-term development strategy) could be a brake on future developments in the sector and this, in our opinion, will that when the EU wakes up the "Space domain" will already be beautifully "colonized". 

For now we can not help but watch ...

To learn more:
- https://www.defensenews.com/space/2018/12/20/trumps-new-space-force-to-r...
https://www.defensenews.com/space/2018/12/13/will-the-space-force-sit-un...

(photo: US Air Force)