United States Space Force: Planet Earth’s Front Line

United States Space Force: Planet Earth’s Front Line

This is a special joint entry for several article columns in The Great Galactic Space Gimmick.

When I first heard the Trump administration announce the formation of the world’s first space-faring military armed force, I was stunned and pleased. Up until now, military presence in Space was in the department primarily of the US Air Force, NASA, and other militaries around the globe.

The idea of a Space-faring military has had deep roots up until now just in the realm of science fiction. Star Trek has the United Federation of Planets. StarCom has an early concept of the US Space Force. Battlestar Galactica has the Colonial Viper Squadron and various Battlestars (equivalent to space battleships and carriers). Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and the Earth forces depicted in the movie Independence Day were fictional forbearers of what we are seeing now.

As fact became reality, we saw the seeds of this news military planted back the 1950s and 60s during the Cold War. To maintain technological and military dominance, the US government invested in the X-Plane Program which included the X-1, X-15, and even had a conceptual spaceplane called the X-20 Dyna-Soar. The X-planes were overshadowed by Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo which were meant for Human Space exploration but the idea of a space fearing military existed even at that time.

Only in the past few years has the public become aware of our military presence in Space. And now the well-known X-37 spaceplane program is well underway. Although it’s not knowing the exact reasons and purposes for the X-37, it might be possible it is a technology demonstrator to continue the technological gap left by the now-retired Space Shuttle and possibly, although it cannot be disclosed for certain, the forbearer of Earth’s first starfighters and military-dominance craft.

The US Space Force idea is meant to not only protect the Space interests of the United States (e.g. satellites, communication, and exploration) but also has the seeds of defending Earth from unknown, space-borne threats.

Mostly in threats such as rogue meteorites, comets, and even other destructive Space phenomena. One possible way of describing it as being a type of “spacefaring Coast Guard“. The Coast Guard’s predominant duties are to ensure that commerce and seafaring functionality is preserved and enforced. It does have the duty of providing security and law enforcement as well. At this time it is very likely that the US Space Force will serve a similar capacity.

There’s also the protection and defense of American exploration efforts especially in the near term to the Moon. The plan is to establish a permanent series of Moon bases for colonization and exploration. Until there is greater peace between Earth nations, there’s always the threat of national interest that might be placed above American security in all locational theatres. The Space Force’s job is to defend and enforce the existence and integrity of America’s exploration efforts to the Moon, Earth orbit, and “Lagrange points“ (gravity-neutral orbit points between the Moon and Earth) for deep Space stations.

And how this will all happen no doubt can be easily seen in the afore-mentioned science fiction. The technology and abilities needed to do this will extend to not just missile and rocket technology, but also unmanned spacecraft specifically for defense and protection. The world’s first starfighters will likely rise out of the birth of this new military. It is possible that such craft may exist like the aforementioned X-37, but will certainly become more well known as time goes on.

Organizations such as Boeing’s Phantom Works, Lockheed’s Skunkworks, and other “black ops” organizations may already have spacecraft for this capacity in mind. Defensive tools such as lasers and space missiles are likely in the works along with electromagnetic rail guns that are already being technologically demonstrated on naval vessels such as the USS Zumwalt and others.

The US Space Force is divided into 9 Deltas with bases defined as Garrisons. Presently, recruitment for the US Space Force is occurring amongst the ranks of all the existing Armed Forces. Within the next 18 months, they would like to have a small force of 16,000 strong to support the new branch of the military

It’s an exciting time especially for those that love science, engineering, all things STEM technology, and those that want to serve a public service role in the military. The need is real, the need has already been fulfilled, but now it has a dedicated presence. Congratulations to the United States for producing Earth’s first spacefaring military and may it always exist in the name of freedom, liberty, and security for all mankind.

For a The Great Galactic Space Gimmick, I’m Gimmick Commander Ben Faltinowski.

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Disclaimer: Some images used in this article were in the public domain and are shown for discussion purposes only. Some related to sci-fi franchises were also shown solely for discussion and comparison between the franchises and the Space Force only. No royalties were received for this article and it is believed this constitutes fair use.