Tag: Air Force

Are the U.S. Space Forces Starting to Muster?

by John Breeden II                 October 2, 2018                   (nextgov.com)

• With all of the proposals for space-based operations being bandied about in Washington D.C., who is doing what in space?

• Space Force – A entirely new and separate branch of the U.S. military, proposed by President Trump. Such a specialized space force could maintain the current technological advantage that the United States may have over China and Russia. A recent proposal by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan called for a tight integration between the new Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office to gather intelligence using satellites. According to an Air Force memo, a new Space Force would initially require 13,000 new personnel and cost $13 billion over the next five years, including $2.2 billion in order to set up a headquarters and $7.2 billion for new assets and equipment.

• NASA – The U.S.’s “peaceful” space program, NASA has recently launched a new effort to search for extraterrestrial, intelligent life known as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

• Space Corps – The 2017 version of Trump’s Space Force that was included in the House of Representative’s fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, but was voted down in the Senate.

• Space Command – An alternative to the Space Corps, led by the U.S. Air Force, that would integrate space-based assets, such as military satellites, into the future operations of all branches of service through the development of a Multi-Domain Command and Control system. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is already developing a program called ‘Hallmark’ that will provide better situational awareness in space, especially in the lower Earth orbit zones, which are cluttered with everything from satellites to space junk.

• Strategic Support Force – The Chinese operations center that manages its space program, cyberspace and electronic warfare.

• [Editor’s Note] Here are some past ExoNews articles on President Trump’s Space Force:
House Panel Lays Foundation for Future Space Force  May 14, 2018
Trump Directs DOD to Establish a Space Force in a Surprise Announcement  Jun 18, 2018
Pence Details Plan for Creation of Space Force in What Would Be the Sixth Branch of the Military  August 9, 2018
New Pentagon Memo Lays Out Action Plan to Establish Space Force by 2020  September 13, 2018

 

When President Donald Trump proposed creating the Space Force as a separate branch of the military, quite a few people ended up scratching their heads. While it would be cool to have a bunch of sleek spaceships like in Star Trek, the sad truth is that we are probably decades or even centuries away from anything close to technology like that, if we ever get there at all. Looked at pessimistically, we would get about as much value out of creating a military branch of time travelers, let’s call them Paladins of the Past, charged with protecting our history from temporal manipulation. It might make for great sci-fi but would not offer much practical value.

We also already have the most advanced, peaceful space program in the world through NASA. Just this spring they launched TESS, the short name for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which is bristling with artificial intelligence designed to optimize the search for extraterrestrial, intelligent life. Nobody else is even close to something like TESS.

But NASA works on peaceful projects, and the idea of a militarized space force has been kicked around Washington for a while. The House included such a provision in the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, calling the new military branch the “Space Corps.” That idea died in the Senate, though the Defense Department was asked to study the issue.

Trump’s support has given the idea new life, and the Air Force was asked to take the lead on proposing what an independent space command might look like. Previously, the Air Force’s focus was on integrating space-based assets, such as military satellites, into the future operations of all branches of service. They have been working on developing a Multi-Domain Command and Control system which would accomplish that.

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Pence Details Plan for Creation of Space Force in What Would Be the Sixth Branch of the Military

by Christian Davenport and Dan Lamothe                  August 9, 2018                    (washingtonpost.com)

• On Thursday August 9th, Vice President Pence laid out an ambitious plan to establish a “Space Force” as the sixth branch of the U.S. military as soon as 2020. Pence issued what amounted to a call to arms to preserve the military’s dominance in space. “Just as we’ve done in ages past, the United States will meet the emerging threats on this new battlefield,” Pence said in the Pentagon news conference (see 5:25 minute video below).

• The task of creating a new military department, which would require approval by a reluctant Congress, may require significant new spending and reorganization. The idea of a Space Force is opposed by the Air Force in particular which could lose some of its ‘Space Command’ responsibilities. Deborah James, who served as Air Force secretary in the Obama administration, said Trump’s decision to create a full new department is “a solution in search of a problem.”

• Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last year that he opposed a new military branch. This week, Mattis said the Pentagon and the White House “are in complete alignment” on the need to view space as a warfighting domain. But he stopped short of endorsing a full-fledged Space Force.

• The first step is to create a new U.S. Space Command led by a four-star general, and pulling space experts from across the armed services. The Pentagon would create an assistant secretary of defense for space, a top-level civilian who will report to the defense secretary “to oversee the growth and expansion of the sixth branch of service.” There would be a separate acquisitions office dedicated to buying satellites and developing new technology. The White House intends to work with lawmakers to introduce legislation by early next year.

• Space is vital to the way the United States wages war. The Pentagon’s satellites are used for missile defense warnings, guiding precision munitions and providing communications and reconnaissance. Russia and China have made significant advancements, challenging the United States’ assets in space.

• Pence said to the military brass attending the press conference, the “commander in chief is going to continue to work tirelessly toward this goal, and we expect you all to do the same.” After the announcement Thursday, members of the House Armed Services Committee Reps. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) praised the move, saying, “We have been warning for years of the need to protect our space assets and to develop more capable space systems.” President Trump tweeted, “Space Force all the way!”

 

Vice President Pence laid out an ambitious plan Thursday that would begin creating a military command dedicated to space and establish a “Space Force” as the sixth branch of the U.S. military as soon as 2020, the first since the Air Force was formed shortly after World War II.

Pence warned of the advancements that potential adversaries are making and issued what amounted to a call to arms to preserve the military’s dominance in space.

“Just as we’ve done in ages past, the United States will meet the emerging threats on this new battlefield,” he said in a speech at the Pentagon. “The time has come to establish the United States Space Force.”

But the monumental task of standing up a new military department, which would require approval by a Congress that shelved the idea last year, may require significant new spending and a reorganization of the largest bureaucracy in the world. And the idea has already run into fierce opposition inside and outside the Pentagon, particularly from the Air Force, which could lose some of its responsibilities.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last year that he opposed a new department of the military “at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting functions.”

This week, Mattis said the Pentagon and the White House “are in complete alignment” on the need to view space as a warfighting domain. But he stopped short of endorsing a full-fledged Space Force. In a briefing with reporters after Pence’s speech, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan suggested that Mattis’s comments opposing the Space Force were made at a different time, before the Pentagon received a bolstered budget.

White House officials have been working with national security leaders to aggressively move ahead without Congress. The first step is creating a new U.S. Space Command by the end of the year, which would be led by a four-star general, the way the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific Command oversees those regions.

The new command would pull space experts from across the armed services, and there would be a separate acquisitions office, dedicated to buying satellites and developing new technology to help the military win wars in space.

After the announcement Thursday, President Trump tweeted, “Space Force all the way!”

5:25 minute CNN video of Vice President Pence
announcing the formation of the U.S. Space Force

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Wright-Patterson AFB, Ray Szymanski and Hidden Aliens

by Paul Seaburn              September 7, 2017                 (mysteriousuniverse.org)

• Raymond Szymanski worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for 39 years.

• In his first days on the job, his mentor asked him if he’d heard about their aliens recovered from the Roswell UFO crash.

• “Everybody who works on base knows.”

• Not one single person ever denied that there were alien bodies on base.

• Szymanski never actually saw the alien bodies. Nevertheless he wrote a book about it.

 

Here’s a well-known mystery: many people believe that aliens and their spacecraft from the Roswell incident are hidden in special tunnels at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Here’s a little-known fact: Raymond Szymanski worked at Wright-Patterson for 39 years and wrote a book published in 2016 called 50 Shades of Greys about what he saw there. Here’s a new mystery: why is the book suddenly back in the news? Is someone getting us ready for full disclosure?

A number of media outlets revisited (or visited) 50 Shades of Greys recently after its author was interviewed by Sun Online. In the book, published in January 2016, Szymanski begins with details of his first days on the job at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1973 when a mentor named Al introduced him to the Avionics Laboratory’s Management Operations Office by asking, “Have you heard about our aliens?”

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

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