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The Air Force was split from the Army because (at the time, not so much now) the Army simply couldn't do air war (and air war support) right. Operating air power as a corps asset rather than a division asset, for instance. Even something as simple as individual rooms (two men to a room) instead of open-bay barracks was actually a necessity of round-the-clock combat air support, not merely a blue-suit nicety. The Air Force needed it...the Army, not so much.
Moreover, the time for separating the Air Force really couldn't come until air power had technologically advanced to something requiring a significantly different strategic concept from ground combat. In order for air power to be recognized as a corps asset more than a division asset, it had to develop to the point that it could be used effectively as a decisive battle element across an entire corps. A separate Air Force in 1918 would have been stupid and would have failed.
I haven't seen any evidence that space combat operations are so advanced as to need a wholly separate force either for support or for combat operations. What's failed that the generals didn't know about?
Hmm. I notice that the primary congresscritters pushing for this (in secret) have been those with significant space operations assets in their home states.
I strongly suspect space system contractor lobbyists have been speaking to them on the golf course. I've been in military meetings where that kind of thing has hit us in the face--senior leaders have been made enamoured of some flashy (and expensive) new thing while the uniformed people are saying, "We were really hoping for more bullets and spare parts."
Actually there's a lot of evidence supporting separating space from the Air Force. The problem is the flying Air Force is so in love with itself, it can't see the problems. One of which is space assets need to be operated and managed purple whereas most AF officers think blue. AF has underfunded space for years because they believe it competes with the flying mission, esp when large chunks of space support Army and Navy missions.
Creating AF Space Command was the Air Force's first attempt to deflect criticism of how it managed space assets. Then moving SMC from AFMC to AF Space was another attempt to ward off the Rumsfeld Commission's recommendations of creating a separate space service. Creating a Marine Corps like operation within the AF is just delaying the inevitable and driving costs. It needs to be a separate service now.
It is long past high time to pull space out of the AF (as well as Army and Navy components) into a single integrated purple space service.
Maybe they know about a potential threat from space, not an asteroid or Earthly foes technology. More likely they want to have power over even space, like a Bond villain.
Earthly threats are not only real, the technologies would also make Hollywood drool.
Russia sent up a satellite that looked like a space debris to fool prying eyes....until it started moving. China has developed the capability to capture satellites in orbit.
The US Air Force has the X-37B robot plane. This plane has been in orbit for as long as two years. What it has been doing in space is a secret and a source of much public speculation from carrying nukes to close-up spying to capturing satellites.
It could also include the defense against objects that may crash into the earth, making life extinct. They would obviously have to deploy large yield weapons to eliminate or divert large objects. Probably weapons we don't even know we have (in the general public).
It could also include the defense against objects that may crash into the earth, making life extinct. They would obviously have to deploy large yield weapons to eliminate or divert large objects. Probably weapons we don't even know we have (in the general public).
"Early warning" is long enough in those cases that it's not relevant to creating a standing organization for it.
"Early warning" is long enough in those cases that it's not relevant to creating a standing organization for it.
..Except for the fact that we do not have a proper early warning system.
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Congress and the Air Force are in a space war
