Space Force is go, go, go! Because we have a child as President of the United States President Trump’s dream of a special space force have come true just before Christmas, with the US House of Representatives approving the new zero-gravity guardians in a monster military bill on Wednesday. It is one of the largest ever military policy bills passed – in a 377-48 vote – and is it full of unhappy compromises. The …
Trump will not lose by this, knowing the American people; any more than he has lost by pushing for a ridiculous Wall.
Of course had the wretched Obama spun this idea the media would be falling over itself to grovel before his 'cool' intellectual brilliance.
.
...the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner took time away from restoring peace in the Middle East to reach an agreement with the president’s daughter, who looks lovely in a dress and is also Kushner's wife
Kinda tautological, nu ?
I'm hoping that every State in the G*****mn Union with get inspired by the Trump Border Wall, and start building walls to keep the undesirables from the neighbouring states out of their territories. Just think of the benefit a Trump Border Wall would bring Hawai'i, or Tennessee, or Alaska, or Rhode Island, or New York, or California, or Puerto Rico, or ... even better, Albany NY should erect a Trump Border Wall against the threatened incursion of rapists and murderers from New York NY or Schenectady NY or ... ditto for Queens NY NY facing the threat of the like from the Bronx NY NY or the Bronx NY NY facing such a threat from Queens NY NY ... Just think a big beautiful wall around each and every citizen of the good ol' U S of A ... lunatic asylum for everyone!!!
Build the wall along the southern border (ignoring the geological impossibilities for now).
Then build one along the northern boarder to keep out those damn commie Canucks.
Then build one down each coast to safeguard the purity of American essence, and finally cap it off with a big dome going right over the top.
Go on. Please do it.
Signed
The rest of the World.
With an appropriate design this would have the added benefit of trapping all the pollution and greenhouse gases the US emits so that it would only bugger up their bit...…
One step further would be to prevent any ingress or egress of stuff.....
That would fit almost perfectly with Trumps protectionist ideals.
I read Only Forward recently, after a Kindle ad1 pointed me toward his more recent novel Hannah Green and her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence, which I quite liked. Then I got Only Forward, which is very different but also good.
I might try some of his crime fiction; it's not a genre I read much of, but I dip my toe in those waters occasionally. Smith's an innovative and interesting writer.
1I've found these surprisingly helpful, and they're not obtrusive - just static images and text on the sleep screen and at the bottom of the home page. Like some of the ads that used to run in Byte and DDJ, it's the rare case of advertising I actually appreciate.
"had the wretched Obama spun this idea the media would be falling over itself to grovel before his 'cool' intellectual brilliance."
THAT is a foregone conclusion. 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' is alive and kicking.
During WW2 the Air Force was 'Army Air Corps'. It split off some time after the war ended. Now it's going to split again. Seriuosly it makes sense because a 'space force' would be able to focus on space, and not on 'Air Force' kinds of things. At some point in the future, when actual ships are being flown, it'd probably make sense to have a separate 'Space Navy'. I would guess that when it comes to managing ships with a crew of dozens or hundreds, the Navy has much more experience. But a crew of 2 or 3 or 4, Air Force can manage just fine.
It's just an evolutionary thing, really. You can make fun, until it makes sense.
Minor-ish clarification -- Hap Arnold was named Chief of Army Air Forces in June, 1941 (thus prior to U.S. overt participation in WWII) under whom fell the various Air Corps. The Air Force name dated back to the mid-30s as the highest level of planning but with weaker operational control than the mid-1941 form.
After Pearl Harbor Day, Roosevelt gained power to make additional reforms without Congressional approval, which allowed Arnold to start shaping the independent Air Force that controlled planning / logistics / operations.
Actually no.
The USAF for formed in September 1947 - as part of the National Security Act of that year.
A partial separation called U.S. Army Air Forces existed between 1941 and 47
planes were under the control of the US army at the time of Pearl Harbor.
"Hap" Arnold was a general in charge of the army air corps until 1941 He became a 4 star general in 1944, and held that post until 1946, when he retired..
thus, technically Spaatz was the first commander of the USAF.
You can make fun, until it makes sense.
Now THAT truly is a foregone conclusion. As you rightly imply, this reorganization does not make sense and is worthy of mockery. Why go through all the hassle and expense of doing something of this nature when it has no point in the foreseeable future? This move is purely about ego (speaking of tautology) and adds no value to ... well... anything worthwhile.
@"sparked in large part by his nonsensical withdrawal, then unwithdrawal and reunwithdrawal from the northern border of Syria"
On the contrary it was clearly to hand control of Syria over to Russia, there was nothing nonsensical about it. The pair of them even gave you a heads-up before hand. Remember the attack on the US base in Syria by by the Russians?
Remember this? Russian militia attacks a US base in Syria? Clearly aiming to send a few US troops in body bags back to the US.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-02-16/russia-attacked-u-s-troops-in-syria
The "fog of war" excuse doesn't work in the age of GPS. The aim was clearly to send a few US troops back in body-bags by attacking a known US base at a known location. With Putin clearly knowing that Russia would face no negative consequences for it, and potentially giving Trump an excuse to withdraw troops.
Which in turn suggests co-ordination between Trump and Putin on an attack against the US. Not a 'cyber-attack' against elections, a guns and missiles attack against US troops. Trump would be there for a photo-shoot with the coffins, ... "oh this is terrible I'm bringing our troops home immediately so this terrible accident never happens again". all the while trying not to smirk.
Trump faces impeachment, Republicans go into full on "rooting for Putin" mode. Fox news's Tucker Carlson does his "I'm rooting for Russia" line. Trump is then free to do the withdrawal, and Republicans can do nothing but pretend to be suddenly pro-Russia. What else can you do? His lawyer is meeting Putin connected Oligarchs in Albania, the head of the Intelligence oversight committee Nunes is meeting Putin connected agents in the Ukraine. Trump's son in laws meeting a Russian army intelligence agent and Russian lawyer in Trump tower.... to supposedly talk about 'adopting orphans'.
It's not nonsensical, it was inevitable.
And so is this:
The Republicans will back Trump and block the Senate vote, and pretend all is well, and Trump will invite Putin to visit, likely 4th July, with GOP lining up on Independence day to meet Putin in a show of compliance to their new leader carrying banners "Rooting for Putin".
On the contrary it was clearly to hand control of Syria over to Russia, there was nothing nonsensical about it. The pair of them even gave you a heads-up before hand.
AC, I take my hat together with my toupée off to salute you! This is a brilliant combination of good many conspiracy theories, which I am sure will get - or perhaps have already got, I do not really follow these things - a lot of traction in the echo chambers of the great cesspit known as the interwebs. Well done, my lad!
I almost expect the Space Force to have some spiffy uniforms like say from Star Trek or even from some really bad movies of the 50-60's. Maybe kids outfits like they had cowboy outfits back then? Now if only there were phasers*... maybe next budget then.
Never, ever set one for "kill bulldozer" when you wanted "stun".
Never mind the killdozers, where are the Space Marines Ladies Auxilliary Force wearing bikinis under their transparent space suits and carrying matching colour-coded blasters?
I've seen them on the covers of so many "Astounding Stories" issues that they must be true.
Unless he wins it...
Setting up a separate military branch to do all things “space” is repeating the mistake of setting up the Airforce that mostly separated all things “airborne” from the Army. It was a mistake by us Brits in the tail end of WW1, one that the US repeated after WW2.
Warfare requires integrated planning across a whole military. That’s harder to pull off when the military is chopped up into separate branches, all squabbling over limited resources.
"Anyone who thinks that the Trumps will be leaving the White House in the foreseeable future is sadly mistaken. If it came to it, Trump would consider World War Three preferable."
On the contrary, I foresee them leaving some time in the next four and a bit years - I'm not mistaken about that, sadly or otherwise.
In some ways I will be a little sad to see the Orange Twatter go - he's not my president and so long as the 'murkins ensure there's always a grown up between him and any button that does more than ring the Whitehouse doorbell then let the hilarity continue. There's nothing quite like idiocy at some other taxpayer's expense to provide a good laugh.
On the effects of which, I read this recently...
https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.03268
Cipolla' s game: playing under the laws of human stupidity
Joel Kuperman, Donny R. Bárcenas, Marcelo N. Kupermana
In this work we present an evolutionary game inspired by the work of Carlo Cipolla entitled The basic laws of human stupidity. The game expands the classical scheme of two archetypical strategies, collaborators and defectors, by including two additional strategies. One of these strategies is associated to a stupid player that according to Cipolla is the most dangerous one as it undermines the global wealth of the population. By considering a spatial evolutionary game and imitation dynamics that go beyond the paradigm of a rational player we explore the impact of Cipolla' s ideas and analyze the extent of the damage that the stupid players inflict on the population
He built a spaceport and got the Mexicans to pay for it!
Got the New Mexicans to pay for it. Jeez.
New Mexico: It ain't new and it ain't Mexico.
And only was (part of) Mexico for a couple of dozen years, from 1821 to 1845. Oñate had a letter of patent from the king of Spain to found a new colony, Nuevo México. Mexico seized what was then the Nuevo México province of Virreinato de Nueva España, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in the War of Mexican Independence, but lost it again in the Mexican-American War. The deed for the land that the Mountain Fastness sits on goes back to a land grant from the king of Spain to an officer in the army that retook New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt; it describes the property [in the English translation] as a tract "in the Ultramarine Colony of New Mexico".
So if you've ever wondered what color New Mexico is...
re: "$738bn you poor fools, from YOUR [taxpayers'] money!"
I'm sure someone of the Space Force supporters will claim that the huge amounts of money being shovelled at Raytheon, McDonnell-Douglas, and other "usual suspects" defense contractors will create an additional job or two somewhere, either through direct hiring (add more receptionists and public relations flacks) or indirect spend (those new hires to take lunch somewhere, right? Maybe the diner next door will add more waitstaff to keep up with the crush, right?). Pay no attention to the stock holders, brokers, and traders behind the curtain.
Set it on fire. ------>
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Add in a heavy dose of paranoia about everyone else, and some delusions of grandeur. He seems to think he's the "king" with god-like brilliancy and wisdom. If any of us mere mortals acted like he does, we'd be in a rubber room, wearing a white coat with extra long sleeves and maybe on thorazine.
great job title, lots of e-mail pushing (handled by Chief of Space Operations Deputy' Junior Assistant' Secretary), no risk of being fried by a russki laser beam, a handsome uniform in dark blue and lots of stars and rocket patches all over it. A fine, leader-cushioned armchair and desk, a room with a view over a green lawn, rather than vast, cold abyss of Deep Space. Also, a pay grade positively shooting through the stratosphere. Benefits seem... infinite ;)
leader-cushioned... gulp. All kinds of things spring to mind, all unsavoury... But the desk itself can't be cushioned, you know. When you slap your palm and DEMAND! YOUR! ORDERS! BE! OBEYED! (and all that) this must make a PROPER SOUND!, man, not like a (...) pussy slapping leader desk... ehm... well... I I got the syntax misentangled now :(
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I was at school at the time, so missed much of the nuance, but didn't the Soviet Union collapse because they tried to keep up with the USA and ran out of money?
(Skipping past lots of bits regarding individual reward for work giving an incentive to improve methods etc etc)
Without prejudice, I can't help but idly wonder if the USA is going to run out of money keeping up with the ego of their own government...
@defiler
"didn't the Soviet Union collapse because they tried to keep up with the USA and ran out of money?"
Sort of. Money is information so how much is printed doesnt change the value of the backing country instead it changes the value of the money. One of the great differences between socialist countries and non-socialists is they are not very good at growth (increasing the value of the country) and are restricted by the resources/production they have and can 'acquire'.
The USSR could only sustain itself by expansion and taking existing resources and production from conquered territory. Eastern Germany was about the richest success story of socialism and thats because of how successful it started, Western Germany leaving it in the dust.
"Without prejudice, I can't help but idly wonder if the USA is going to run out of money keeping up with the ego of their own government..."
Without disagreeing with you, is there a contender to Trump? Obama spaffed money (Bush too), the democrats are offering to spaff money on retarding the country. Trump is spaffing money on soldiers, defence and the protection of the people (agree or not that is the framing). Which candidate of either side promotes prudence?
Well, my understanding (as a gross simplification) is that because there was no real incentive for an individual to excel, the Soviens would just do what the were told to do without significant innovation. Of course they were innovators as well, but only the ones told to *be* innovators. After all, the likes of BP walked in there in the 1990s and were astonished at the lack of modern techniques to extract oil from the Soviet oilfields. There seems to have been a lot of "it's good enough" and no drive to improve, and the improvements are what allowed the capitalist nations to outgrow and outspend them.
Again, this is not borne of experience, but from what I've read on the subject and my interpretation of that - I'm happy to be corrected.
As for the USA, according to Wikipedia (I'm in a hurry, okay?) US military spending exceeds the next 10 countries combined, more than half of which are allies. The US Government just loves to piss money into the military, regardless of President. I'm just sitting back on the other side of the ocean idly wondering "how much is too much" and "when does it become too expensive to sustain"?
@defiler
"Again, this is not borne of experience, but from what I've read on the subject and my interpretation of that - I'm happy to be corrected."
Sounds similar to my understanding of it.
"US military spending exceeds the next 10 countries combined, more than half of which are allies"
This is an interesting issue of NATO that a lot of its members cant be bothered meeting the 'required' military spending anyway. What use are allies when they cant do anything? Germany couldnt even get plains and pilots to Iraq to fight ISIS, only the war minister managed to arrive. The US spends huge amounts on military, but when the EU upset Russia the EU hid behind the US. All the while the US cant afford its current welfare state and has others pushing for more.
"I'm just sitting back on the other side of the ocean idly wondering "how much is too much" and "when does it become too expensive to sustain"?"
Me too and me too. If it does happen I wonder how the western world will cope.
" if the USA is going to run out of money keeping up with the ego of their own government.."
The USA has already run out of money a while back. We're operating on debt now, piling it on faster and higher than ever in my memory. I do think that it poses a serious, possibly existential, risk to the nation.
I concur. Considering a great number of Kieren's articles are more personal opinion rant than technology, why does the Reg keep publishing this drivel? Considering the comments and voting, appears to provide the subjects of the Monarchy a place to vent their political drivel spleen about the USA. El Reg should pay for Kieren's relocation to London so he can feel less offended.
I suspect they are hiding behind childish labels the expansion of their surveillance program. Military satellites are expensive and need a lot of people to verify what they actually saw when you have a lot of them. They are trying to automate as much as possible with neural networks trained to recognise ships, planes new buildings and so on, but to design, monitor and take action of the observation you still need a lot of people, hence the 15000 people workforce.
BINGO!
Many DoD/Intelligence assets in orbit. All this does is take related functions scattered between various agencies and consolidate them.
I'd say that this a first step towards admitting that we have had the capabilities for many years to make things in orbit which we don't like permanently disappear. No secret that the US has had ABM capabilities for decades. Really think we can't extend that out another hundred miles and take out something in a known orbit?
For that matter, think we don't have sats in orbit as we speak that can take out another sat? All it takes is a few pounds of ball bearings and a difference in velocity.
The new Space Force will get its own Chief of Space Operations, who will report to the Secretary of the Air Force, and will probably get most of the Air Force’s space assets – from the Vandenberg base in California where satellites are launched to ground control bases like the one at Schriever base in Colorado. It will also get GPS satellites, the X37B spaceplane and, of course, its own force – up to 15,000 personnel apparently. The budget provides funds to train and equip them as well as cover “prompt and sustained space operations.”
This appears to be SOP in politics. Package up or re-announce a whole lot of existing stuff were stuff can just include plans. UK parties of all colours have honed this to a fine art with NHS budgets for a long time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_missile_test
While it was overwhelmingly condemned by the international community, it still happened. Not really sure exactly what a "Space Force®" would do to prevent this sort of thing from happening, but a dedicated group working to identify a vulnerabilities and exploring defenses might be appropriate. Trump's ham-handed delivery not withstanding. Remember, he a marking guy. And marketing guys think everyone is as dumb as they are, so everything has to be a slogan or catch phrase (or hashtag).
Again don't get caught up in this idea that somehow this was something Trump thought up all by himself. I'm sure he's had meeting with defense department officials and Boeing lobbyists who made sure this was front and center on his agenda.
From Wikipedia: In January 2001, a (US) congressionally mandated space commission headed by Donald Rumsfeld recommended that “the U.S. government should vigorously pursue the capabilities called for in the National Space Policy to ensure that the president will have the option to deploy weapons in space to deter threats to, and, if necessary, defend against attacks on U.S. interests."
..for a "Space Force". But, um, don't we need more actual people in space first? Or an outpost somewhere perhaps? Kind of like scoping out the land for your new home, then immediately building the swimming pool before even digging for the foundation. And when you can barely afford to dig the foundation.
Um ... splitting space assets off into their own branch is no more inherently nonsensical than splitting the Army Air Corps off into the Air Force was.
But yes, "orange man bad" ... I can't argue with that, er, logic ...
Um, yeah, but the prime difference is that by the time that happened, there were actual aircraft flying all over the place and an actual air force to be called an...erm...air force.
Currently the US has NO man rated space craft. It'd be like creating an air force in 1904.
(news travels slowly through Govt. bureaucracy!)
First, if you don't live in the USA calling the President of the USA a "child" only shows your own immaturity and that you suffer from TDS. Get a life, get some help, take a pill, have a beer and get over it. If you do live in the USA, Trump is your President and will be for 5 more years. You suffer from TDS. Get a life, get some help, take a pill, have a beer and get over it.
Second, anyone who isn't a US citizen claiming that a wall to secure the US border is "useless" can go ask any other numerous countries that have border walls, perhaps maybe even asking Mexico why they have a wall on their southern border, why they aren't "useless". The pittance in comparison required to build the wall and secure our border will be saved by eliminating the +$70billion a year wasted on illegal aliens entering our country illegally, smuggling drugs, people and bringing in crime that the "useless" wall will prevent. You suffer from TDS. Get a life, get some help, take a pill, have a beer and get over it.
Third, if you don't understand that the Strategic Air Command or SAC because Space Command, then became Strategic Command and is now re converging multiple activities as Space Command is neither new nor childish. https://www.stratcom.mil/About/History/
So this entire article is a whining liberal progressive trying to assert a moronic preconceived notion about their view of the world on a grownup who is actually re-consolidating multiple military agencies into a single agency, eliminating waste and redundancy, bringing our military up to current technology after 8 years of Obama destroying the US military and Making America Great Again. Im sure, based on the 70+ snarky childish, moronic comments that supported the OP, that Im going to get a litany of twits arguing that Trump is a Criminal, the Space Command is Childish and thewall is Useless. For the final time: You suffer from TDS. Get a life, get some help, take a pill, have a beer and get over it.
Problem with great power rivalry is that there's precious little thought put into it beyond the big flashy symbols of national pride - just think of the great power rivalry between the UK and the German Empire that lead to the Great War aka WWI. Anyone with a bit of sense would see that you can't do anything militarily with earth orbit besides remote sensing and communications - destroying satellites blocks those orbits from use unless the debris de-orbits quickly.
As I say, precious little thought. According to current great power behaviour, earth orbit is neutralized, except they're rather cowardly about admitting that fact. F*cking D*ckheads every which one!!!
"It’s not yet known if the Space Force will also adopt the new uniform the president has reportedly drawn on a big pad and colored-in really well."
What nonsense!
Total poppycock!
Everyone knows that Trump cannot color between the lines.
He barely mastered using a Sharpie, especially blunted to avoid unintentional self-harm.
the UK never properly supported Bernard Quatermass's British Rocket Group (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/quatermass/berg/aimshist.shtml and https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/British_Rocket_Group). Serve you right if Bernard hadn't bothered to keep the aliens from turning you all into Bog bits!
And yes, I know it was just a programme, but we Americans are mad lads. It's in our DNA, we don't care if something is insane, we'll give it a go (something I think we inherited from our time under the British!) See the quotes about US doctrine from WW2:
Soviets: "One of the serious problems in planning the fight against American doctrine, is that the Americans do not read their manuals, nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine."
Germans: "The reason the American Army does so well in wartime is that war is CHAOS, and the American Army practices CHAOS on a daily basis"
Americans: "If we don't know what we're doing, the Enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
why you are opposed to a Space Force? Ideally, it is a WASTE as the Air Force should control space. HOWEVER, the country that controls space controls the planet. The country that controls the moon controls the Planet. It makes sense for the West to start colonizing the moon long before the Chinese and Russians get there - and yes they are trying because they see the strategic advantage.
Lately, I think the comments are getting worse and worse to Daily Mail standards....
There are both pros and cons to a Space Force. On one hand, it is just carving out current USAF SPACECOM personnel and assets, the same way USAF was carved out from Army Air Corps in 1947 - so nothing immediately lost. On the other hand, (a) Space Force will need to compete with the other components in the budget battles; (b) other components, including current USAF, will have a competing customer relationship with Space Force, which may not align well with component priorities; and, (c) Space Force will now likely build redundant and costly administrative infrastructure, instead of availing of USAF personnel/administration/disbursing support. I'm not enamored of Space Force mainly for reasons (b) and (c), gratuitous cheap shot at President Trump notwithstanding.
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