Should Space Command be another military branch or managed by the Air Force?

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 15:42:29 -0400

Response by Maj Walter Kilar made Jun 22 at 2018 11:38 PM

Maj Walter Kilar — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 23:38:59 -0400

I served 4 years in NRO and 4 in Air Force Space Command. My personal opinion is that a space force does not have enough forces to assign, allocate, and apportion for combat or combat support to warrant being its own branch. Right now the Joint Forces Space Component Command (JFSCC) has the following combat units: a battalion or two from 1st Space Brigade (Army), a couple squadrons from 14th Air Force, and portions of Navy Network Warfare Command. The remainder of the space force are support units from those units listed above. The Air Force does organize, train, and equip 98% of the joint space force with a budget of about $10B a year (unclassified). The NRO has about $50B that is not counted as part of the space force, but the Air Force does comprise about 50% of their military billets. Those statistics certainly build a case for letting the Air Force manage a space force, or for carving up Air Force and NRO (which is already joint service) into an independent branch that will have plenty of Air Force influence.

Response by TSgt G Redman made Jun 26 at 2018 2:22 AM

TSgt G Redman — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 02:22:50 -0400

Well, the AF has been doing a pretty good job for the last several decades..

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 27 at 2018 8:18 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 20:18:19 -0400

Another branch.

Response by TSgt David L. made Jun 27 at 2018 8:28 PM

TSgt David L. — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 20:28:56 -0400

We could wrap Army and Navy Space Commands into AFSPC (which I always thought was a good idea anyway) and they could continue to manage satellites, launch operations and the Theater Missile Defense as a branch. There is your Space Force in a nut shell. Once we get another space transport system they can roll that in as well.

Response by TSgt Rich Erhardt made Aug 28 at 2018 8:59 AM

TSgt Rich Erhardt — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:59:25 -0400

There are a couple of comments I can agree with. . . The first is from Maj. Kilar, “space force does not have enough forces to assign, allocate, and apportion for combat or combat support to warrant being its own branch.” I agree but certainly thing we should be strategic and looking forward. Probably as soon as we anticipate we are within 10 years of permanent troops stationed in space it should break off into a service of its own.
The second comment is MAJ Paul R., “army and marines should combine combat arms leadership. no one wants to hear that but it’s true. And AF should probably run all fixed wing aircraft even on ships” I have been saying this for years. In fact I would make it deeper and it would lead right into the separate United States Space Force. First agree “ALL” flying assets should be owned and operated by the Air Force. The Air Force should divest of all land missions. The Army and Marines should combined under all land forces, we no longer jump ship to ship to overcome our advisories. If it floats it is operated by the Navy. All bases are guarded by the land force, whoever that is, does not matter. Not sure if it is scarier to hear the US Marines are coming or the US Army is coming… pick a name, does not matter. To go even deeper, all support services would become DoD, no service would own civil engineering (only Combat Engineers which probably would fall under the land force). All personnel support would be DoD and the like. This would create parity at every base, same level of support no matter which Base, Post, or Camp (installation). Billions of dollars of redundancy eliminated and better support.

Response by SrA Ronald Moore made Mar 25 at 2020 10:16 AM

SrA Ronald Moore — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 10:16:57 -0400

I believe The AirForce should Head it, But it should have Attributes from the Army, Navy, AirForce,Marines, Coastguards

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Mar 25 at 2020 10:17 AM

SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 10:17:07 -0400

Managed by the Air Force.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 25 at 2020 10:55 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 10:55:10 -0400

I don't know, and I don't think they do either.
My concern is that the Space Force gets treated like a red-headed stepchild when it comes to procurement like the Dept of the Navy treats the Marine Corps.

Response by MSG Stan Hutchison made Mar 25 at 2020 11:09 AM

MSG Stan Hutchison — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 11:09:47 -0400

Space must NOT be weaponized, period!

Response by Sgt John Steinmeier made Mar 25 at 2020 11:59 AM

Sgt John Steinmeier — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 11:59:27 -0400

Like others have already mentioned, under the Air Force at this time. Much like the Air Corps was to the Army and eventually split off to it's own independent branch of service.

Response by Capt Gregory Prickett made Mar 25 at 2020 4:46 PM

Capt Gregory Prickett — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 16:46:11 -0400

It should be subordinate to the Air Force, in the same way that the Marines are subordinate to the Navy.

Response by Lt Col Charlie Brown made Mar 27 at 2020 7:23 AM

Lt Col Charlie Brown — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 07:23:00 -0400

The majority of the slots and staff came from the Air Force