US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would direct the Defense Department and the Pentagon to create a new “Space Force” – an independent sixth branch of the armed forces.
Trump said Monday that the branch would be “separate but equal” from the Air Force. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph F. Dunford Jr., would oversee its creation.
Saying that he does not want “China and other countries leading us,” Trump said space was a national security issue.
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The Outer Space Treaty, which the United States signed in 1967, bars the signatories from testing weapons and establishing military bases on the moon and other celestial bodies. It also prohibits the placement of weapons of mass destruction in orbit around Earth. But the treaty has no enforcement mechanism.
Some are worried that the Space Force would duplicate existing efforts. The Air Force already maintains a Space Command, for example.
The announcement was made at a meeting of the National Space Council. The policy sets up new guidelines for satellite design and operation, as well as tracking the growing amount of clutter in space.
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