Trump’s Space Force is the adopted son of Star Wars: Analyst

US President Donald Trump’s Space Force is sort of the adopted son of Star Wars, says Ian Williams, a senior analyst with Foreign Policy in Focus.

Williams made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Thursday while commenting on a report which says Trump’s plan for the establishment of the Space Force will be submitted to Congress by the Pentagon in February next year, a project that would add a sixth branch to America's massive military and fulfill Trump’s wish to seek US dominance in space.

“So the Space Force is sort of the adopted son of Star Wars. Remember under Ronald Reagan, a group of enthusiasts of space travel teamed up with the military because they thought the only way to get America interested in exploring space was by hiking the power of the military, and financial power of the military,” Williams said.

“At that time, if you remember the concept was called the high frontiers. A bunch of very reactionary people, very similar to the ones who are now running the United States and are running Donald Trump’s White House, stuck together and pushed it. It involves intelligent pebbles, it involves space layers, and it involves a lot of money into space, into pretty futile exercises since none of their experiments worked despite trillions of dollars expenditures,” he added.

“And this is something that’s now continuing. They obviously sold Donald Trump on this idea because it’s a sort of science fiction romance. He likes the idea of a space force. I don’t think he would ever squeeze into a space suit and commands operation personally, but it is something that would appeal to him,” the analyst noted.

PressTV-Pentagon to submit Space Force plan to Congress

Trump’s plan for the establishment of a Space Force will be submitted to Congress by the Pentagon in February next year, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said.

In August, Vice President Nike Pence outlined the Trump administration’s vision for the new military force at a Pentagon speech, telling the audience that the American military must prepare for "the next battlefield" to deter growing competition and threats from Russia and China in space.

Trump had ordered the creation of Space Force in June, arguing the Pentagon needs it to tackle vulnerabilities in space and assert US dominance in orbit.

The US military presently consists of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Currently, the Air Force oversees most space capabilities.

The cost, makeup and organization of Trump’s Space Force has not been finalized yet. According to the Air Force, the sixth branch of the military could cost about $13 billion over five years, including $3 billion for the first year and $10 billion over the following four years. The Space Force would also need about 13,000 new personnel.

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