Congress green-lit a new Space Force in its joint fiscal 2020 defense policy bill, under a proposal that would elevate Air Force Space Command to become the Pentagon’s sixth military service while continuing to sit within the Department of the Air Force.
After months of testy negotiations, lawmakers from both parties and both chambers agreed with the Air Force that the Space Force should become an armed force on its own. The Air Force argued that without that designation, the Space Force would lack the teeth to carry out space operations in a meaningful way. Congress released the conference agreement Dec. 9, more than two months behind schedule.
The Space Force will take over the Air Force’s role of organizing, training, and equipping space operators who fly GPS satellites, track space debris, oversee satellite communications, and more.
“We have to be able to defend what we have there that we count on,” Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif., earlier this month. “We need to build, put things in space that can themselves be defended. We need to then be able to use space as an enabler for our warfighters in other domains. So we need to be able to have free access to space for ourselves and others.”
Under the proposal, the President would appoint an Air Force general to serve as Chief of Space Operations. That chief would serve a four-year term, stretching up to eight years in wartime or in a national emergency, and answer directly to the Air Force Secretary.
According to the conference report, Gen. Jay Raymond, the current commander of AFSPC, who also serves as head of US Space Command, could serve as the new space chief until a new one is chosen. The Defense Secretary can also pick a Chief of Space Operations to concurrently serve as SPACECOM commander for the first year after the bill is signed into law.
A Space Force boss would sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff starting one year after President Donald Trump signs the Fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act into law.
“Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to authorize additional military billets for the purposes of, or in connection with, the establishment of the Space Force,” lawmakers added in the conference report. Members had mulled how to build a Space Force without further ballooning Pentagon bureaucracy.
Lawmakers must still pass the bill out of Congress and get Trump’s approval, and appropriators must provide the needed funding for the Space Force to take effect.
Air Force Association President retired Lt. Gen Orville Wright welcomed the news.
“As our outstanding airmen continue to develop capabilities and lead space operations, the rapidly growing threats in space drive the national security imperative to preserve the safety of our citizens. Together with our Air Force, the new Space Force will enable our military leaders to organize, train, and equip space forces in support of the nation’s joint warfighting commands, and to deter—and if, necessary, defeat—those who threaten our nation and allies,” Wright said.
However, he cautioned that airmen can’t win the space fight without adequate funding and resources.
“A good place to begin is to reallocate taxpayer investment from the intelligence community space budget, so that our airmen have the resources they need to simultaneously engage and fight in space.”
Others weren’t quite as optimistic. Brian Weeden, a space policy expert at the Secure World Foundation, said it’s unclear how this language creates a better organization than what existed in the past.
“Yes, this gives the Space Force full Title 10 authorities, which could lead to big changes in the future as recruiting/training/acquisitions change over time. But that might be a while,” he said on Twitter.
In earlier iterations of the legislation, the Senate suggested transforming AFSPC into a Space Force but fell short of giving it the Title 10 authorities the Air Force said it needed. The House floated a similar Space Corps within the Air Force. The Trump administration’s proposal sought a separate department on par with the Air Force, Navy, and Army, while the original Space Corps idea from Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) also called for a separate branch under the Air Force.
Pentagon and Air Force officials opposed past proposals but eventually got on board once it became clear that the Space Force could still fall under the Air Force’s purview.
For now, only Air Force military personnel would staff the Space Force, though lawmakers say they “expect that the Space Force would be supported by civilian personnel within the Department of the Air Force and by Air Force reserve elements, as determined by the Secretary of the Air Force.” Barrett must submit a plan to support the Space Force using all parts of the Air Force within 90 days after the bill is signed into law.
The Space Force could pull in personnel from the other services once it is more mature.
All Air Force personnel assigned to the NRO will come from the Space Force, according to documents.
Lawmakers also laid out a slew of changes to space acquisition and policy jobs. The agreement notes that the Space Force won’t receive any additional funding above the $72.4 million the Trump administration requested for 2020, as a way to keep costs down.
Air Force Magazine previously reported that the Pentagon expects growing the Space Force over the next five years will cost $2 billion, plus about $500 million each year once the organization is fully established. Independent estimates project higher total costs.
Former Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said up to 20,000 employees could staff the new service, though AFSPC alone already has more than 26,000 personnel, according to its website.
For months, the Air Force has been doing the legwork to prepare for a possible shift in how it manages space. Barrett recently said the service has a “war room” waiting for the go-ahead from lawmakers, and Maj. Gen. Clint Crosier, director of the Space Force planning task force, sent Congress a blueprint for establishing the space service in the spring.
“To [Space Force personnel], it doesn’t really matter if they show up on Day One in a different uniform,” Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of Air Force Space Command, said Dec. 6 at the West Coast Aerospace Forum in Santa Monica, Calif. “Don’t try and change things that don’t need to be changed, and ensure you are adapting to things you need to adapt to.”
As the Space Force stands up, lawmakers want updates from the Chief of Space Operations every 60 days on the service’s status. But many questions still remain.
Congress asks Barrett to submit a report by Feb. 1 detailing the Space Force’s structure and organizational elements; a support structure for the CSO; how the Space Force will affect the Pentagon’s current space elements; how the service will organize, train, and equip its people; how it will work with SPACECOM and the other armed forces; and further funding and personnel details.
Lawmakers also want a legislative proposal for adding reserve military and civilian workers into the Space Force within 60 days of enactment. Another report on how the Space Force would jointly work with the NRO, National Security Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and SPACECOM is due within 180 days.
“Nothing in this provision is intended to be construed as mandating any changes to the mission or operations of the NRO or NGA,” legislative documents state.
Air Force officials have cheered the news.
“Our vulnerability and our dependence is greater than anyone else,” Barrett said of space. “It is time for us to move forward with a Space Force.”
Congress green-lit a new Space Force in its joint fiscal 2020 defense policy bill, under a proposal that would elevate Air Force Space Command to become the Pentagon’s sixth military service under the Department of the Air Force.
After months of testy negotiations, lawmakers from both parties and both chambers agreed with the Air Force that the Space Force should become an armed force on its own. The Air Force argued that without that designation, the Space Force would lack the teeth to carry out space operations in a meaningful way. Congress released the conference agreement Dec. 9, more than two months behind schedule.
The Space Force will take over the Air Force’s role of organizing, training, and equipping space operators who fly GPS satellites, track space debris, oversee satellite communications, and more. Under the proposal, the President would appoint an Air Force general to serve as Chief of Space Operations. That chief would serve a four-year term, stretching up to eight years in wartime or in a national emergency, and answer directly to the Air Force Secretary.
According to the conference report, Gen. Jay Raymond, the current commander of AFSPC who also serves as head of US Space Command, could serve as the new space chief until a new one is chosen. The Defense Secretary can also pick a Chief of Space Operations to concurrently serve as SPACECOM commander.
A Space Force boss would sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff starting one year after President Donald Trump signs the Fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act into law.
“Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to authorize additional military billets for the purposes of, or in connection with, the establishment of the Space Force,” lawmakers added in the conference report. Members had mulled how to build a Space Force without further ballooning Pentagon bureaucracy.
For the Space Force to take effect, lawmakers must still pass the bill out of Congress and get Trump’s approval, and appropriators also must provide the needed funding.