Summary

  • Trump plans to create Space National Guard & build an “Iron Dome”
  • The Space Force split from the US Air Force in 2019
  • Pentagon opposes a new Space National Guard, favoring transfers

It’s election campaign season in the United States, and now Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump has said he would create a Space National Guard if elected and would “build an Iron Dome” around it. The 2024 elections are not the only race happening now—the United States has found itself in the middle of a new arms and space race with China. The Space Force was established to protect American assets in space from threats from China and Russia (meanwhile, the US Air Force no longer feels safe operating in its airbases due to Chinese threats).

Trump says he would Space National Guard and “Iron Dome”

Former President Donald Trump stated at the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Detroit that he would establish a Space National Guard. He said, “The time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force. So, as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a space National Guard.

US Space Force personnel

Photo: US Space Force

The Space National Guard is the proposed National Guard of the United States Space Force. In 2019, then-President Trump split the Space Force from the United States Air Force. Trump has called the creation of a Space National Guard a critical step in ensuring that the United States continues to develop its space-based military defenses.

Proponents of the move note that around 10% of current Space Force manpower for operations comes from Air National Guard units. They also state that the lack of a separate Space Force Guard structure results in troops “disconnecting” from work.

Trump also stated, “And we’re going to build a great Iron Dome for missile defense around our nation. Other countries have said Israel has it. You know, [former President] Ronald Reagan wanted this many years ago, but we didn’t have the technology at that point. But now we have the technology.”

Experts note building such a system would be complicated and expensive for the US (the US is around 445 times larger than Israel). There are also questions about how effective it would be at intercepting short-range rockets.

Space Force satellite mission

Photo: Space Force

Trump has called the establishment of the Space Force “one of my proudest achievements in my first term” and then boasted that because of its establishment, the United States is now “leading in space throughout the armed forces.”

Biden Administration’s plan to move Air National Guardsmen

In April, the Biden administration proposed incorporating Air National Guard service members into the Space Force. This has brought the Pentagon into conflict with state governors, as their permission is required to approve changes to National Guard units and shift those service members to the Space Force. The DoD has asked Congress to override this requirement so that they can transfer the units without the governor’s approval.

Six U.S. Space Force Guardians and 12 U.S. Air Force Airmen stand in a single file

Photo: Space Force

Pentagon officials oppose establishing a new Space National Guard and say it is less expensive and complicated to transfer some Guard missions to the Space Force once rather than establish a new reserve force. This has met with opposition from the Guardsmen themselves. Some Air National Guard members involved in space missions have stated they would rather retire than be transferred to the Space Force. The proposal would impact around 1,000 Air National Guardsmen.

Opposition from state governors

In April, the governors of 48 states and five territories wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, stating their opposition to moving Guardsmen to the Space Force.

Defense News states, “They [state governors] argued the move, proposed by President Joe Biden’s administration as an alternative to creating a stand-alone Space National Guard, ‘reduces governors’ authority within their states and territories, and undermines longstanding partnerships, precedence, military readiness and operational efficacy.'”

The House and Senate annual defense authorization bills are also currently at odds over this issue. A compromise is expected in the coming weeks, but there is no clear resolution. Still, to some degree, the establishment of a Space National Guard may be more of an incremental step formalizing what is already developing.

Newsweek writes, “Seven states—Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, New York, Arkansas and Ohio—already have National Guard space operations.” The publication also states, “On June 18, in testimony before the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, General Hokansen, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, told lawmakers, ‘We actually have a Space National Guard; we’re just not willing to admit it.'”

Space Force

Space may be the final frontier, but for now, it is the smallest area of operation for the US military. Space Force officials have requested an end strength of 9,800 personnel for FY 2025, making it the smallest branch of the US military. The proposed FY 2025 budget for the Space Force is $29.4 billion, with the overall Air Force request being $217.5 billion.

Space Force logo and view of earth from space

Photo: Space Force

The US Space Force is unusual in that it is a military service branch that doesn’t really do any fighting in the traditional sense of the word. Space Force states its mission is to “Secure our Nation’s interests in, from, and to space.” The Space Force logo is said to resemble the Star Wars logo, while the new uniforms look similar to those in the TV series Battlestar Galactica.

Space Force is the first new branch of the armed services since 1947 (when the US Air Force was split off from the Army). Time will tell if this is the last service branch – after all, Ukraine has just established the world’s first ‘drone force,’called the Unmanned Systems Forces.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *