US President Donald Trump has asked Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford to oversee creation of a sixth branch of the military, separate from the Pentagon’s five traditional uniformed branches. “We’re going to have the space force,” Trump said.
“When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space,” Trump said today at a White House event on space policy. “We must have American dominance in space.”
Trump's proposed extraterrestrial branch of the U.S. armed forces would require congressional approval, and lawmakers have been divided on it. Observers say the push was motivated by space investment by Russia and China.
China is eager to establish itself as a superpower with plans for an orbiting space station and a permanent outpost on the moon, while Russia, too, has aspirations for a military role in space.
Trump has been considering creating a Space Force for months over resistance from the Air Force, which currently oversees military space programs, according to Bloomberg. He announced his support for the idea at a White House meeting of the National Space Council as the administration presented a directive for setting a goal for a new moon landing within 10 years.
The Trump administration’s first crewed lunar gateway mission is planned for 2023 under NASA’s current plans, with humans heading to Mars in the 2030s.
