President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the creation of a new combatant command in US military, called Space Command. The new command will protect American interests in space, which he said, was “the next war-fighting domain”.
“Those who wish to harm the United States seek to challenge us in the ultimate high ground of space,” the president said in remarks at a launch event at the White House. “It’s going to be a whole different ballgame.”
Space Command will be America’s 11th unified command, after geographical Central Command, Africa Command, Indo-Pacific Command, functional Transport Command and the Strategic Command. It will be tasked with protecting US assets in space, including military satellites that are used in guiding military assets in air and on sea, communications and intelligence gathering.
Air Force General John Raymond, who will be heading the new command, spoke to reporters before the launch ceremony. “I really believe we are at a strategic inflection point, where there is nothing that we do in the joint coalition force that isn’t enabled by space. Zero,” he said.
Though the US president did not cite specific threats or name adversaries, officials pointed to Russia and China and cited a 2007 test in which China fired a missile to destroy one of its weather satellites.
{{/usCountry}}Though the US president did not cite specific threats or name adversaries, officials pointed to Russia and China and cited a 2007 test in which China fired a missile to destroy one of its weather satellites.
{{/usCountry}}India also has the capability to do so, as it demonstrated through an anti-satellite test in March, but it is not on the US radar as an adversary.
This is the second time that the US is taking a shot at a separate Space Command. It first created one in 1985, under President Ronald Reagan. It was scrapped after the September 11, 2001 attacks, as Pentagon turned its focus on combating terrorism.
Raymond told reporters that this time, it is different: a “different command built for a different environment”.
Next on the president’s radar is the creation of Space Force, he said, to “organize, train, and equip warriors to support SPACECOM’s mission”. It will be the sixth branch of the US armed forces, after Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine corps and Coast Guard.