The Trump administration has proposed creating a Space Force within the Air Force, a relationship similar to that between the Marine Corps and the Navy. The argument used by the Pentagon is that a separate military branch for space is imperative in the face of alleged plans by Russia and China to expand the use of space for military purposes.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in a report released Wednesday that the US administration’s proposed plan to create a new Space Force could increase related annual Pentagon costs by $1 billion to nearly $2 billion, while also requiring startup costs of $2 billion to nearly $5 billion.
This estimate for the proposed reorganisation of the military’s space enterprise comes despite acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan calling the previously announced $2 billion price tag “overstated” earlier in the day.
“The $2 billion, in my view, is overstated. I think that detracts from the real value of the Space Force,” Shanahan said during a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing.
An independent Space Force military branch, according to the CBO report estimate, would need 5,400 to 7,800 new personnel, thus hiking the Pentagon’s annual costs by $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion.
There is an option to cut costs somewhat by placing the new service within the Air Force – the move proposed in the Defense Department’s fiscal 2020 budget request.
Trump also signed off on establishing the US Space Command to oversee space operations, with the administration proposing a new agency that would be responsible for the development and acquisition of space systems.