SPACE FORCE – The final frontier

In a tweet published ahead of his speech, Mr Pence referred to space as the “next battlefield”.

“Trump is committed to preparing for the next battlefield where America’s best and bravest will be called to deter and defeat a new generation of threats to our people and our nation…The time has come to establish the United States,” he wrote. Which sounds very serious and quite motivational like something that’s come straight out of the script of Independence Day.

President Trump has repeatedly said that the US must create a space force and tweeted the following after Mr Pence’s announcement: “Space Force all the way!” Which for me just reiterates how childish the president is but it brings me some joy and excitement for the future to see where this could lead.

Mr Trump directed the US Department of Defence to begin the process of establishing Space Force in June. The new military branch is an effort to stop “potential adversaries” who the White House has said recognises the importance of space to the US.  So E.T. better come prepared if he wants to take over the world because space force will be waiting. On a more serious note “The Director of National Intelligence has warned that multiple countries, including Russia and China, are developing both destructive and non-destructive anti-satellite weapons that could come online within a few years,” a White House memo read which puts things into a little more perspective.

In his speech at the Pentagon, Mr Pence referenced Mr Trump’s inaugural speech last year in which he committed to unlocking the “mysteries of space” as president. Mr Pence proclaimed that the president “has kept his promise to restore America’s proud legacy of leadership in space”.

US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, who once opposed the proposal to create a new branch of military, has recently told reporters he supports the plan’s goal to address “space as a developing war-fighting domain”. He added: “This is a process we’re in”. Which I also find amusing as it’s not like the defence secretary is going to turn around and say they are completely un prepared and haven’t even thought about it because I would be unequivocally suicidal for his career.

Pence also announced that Mr Trump had signed three Space Policy Directives and had revived the National Space Council which the vice president is chair of.

In true Trump fashion the speech couldn’t survive without a huge brag and boast about awesome America is, in the closing moments Mr pence said “To be clear, the Space Force will not be built from scratch, because the men and women who run and protect our nation’s space programmes today are already the best in the world,”. “Since the dawn of the space age, America has remained the best in space.”