Important Facts For Prelims
Space Force by USA
- 24 Dec 2019
- 1 min read
Why in News
Recently, the US President signed the National Defense Authorization Act, 2020 directing the establishment of the U.S. Space Force (USSF) as the sixth branch of the armed forces.
- The establishment of USSF comes after the launch of a new Pentagon Command named Spacecom earlier in September, 2019.
Key Points
- The USSF will be the sixth formal force of the U.S. military, after the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard and will be headquartered at the Pentagon.
- It will comprise of about 16,000 air force and civilian personnel.
- Objectives:
- Maintaining and enhancing the competitive edge of the Department of Defense (DOD) in space.
- Developing military space professionals, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power and organizing space forces, etc.
- Effectively organizing the defence for US interests in space, especially related to satellites used for navigation and communication.
- Concerns: China and Russia have apprehensions regarding this development. It is being perceived as increasing weaponization of outer space and turning cosmos into a battlefield.
