Trump orders creation of US 'Space Force'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Monday to immediately work to create a sixth military service branch that will ensure "American dominance" in outer space.

"When it comes to defending America it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance," Trump said at the White House.

“We are going to have a space force,” Trump said. "We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force. Separate, but equal.”

Details on what the new service branch will include and be tasked with remain unclear, but Trump first floated the idea in May. The Air Force traditionally handles defense in outer space under its Air Force Space Command, and its brass had bristled at the idea of being stripped of the domain.

Congress would likely have to sign off on the creation of an independent Space Force for it to become an official entity.

Trump framed much of his comments on re-establishing the U.S. lead in space, promising a return to the moon and a manned mission to Mars in an event ostensibly aimed at announcing a new policy to reduce debris in space.

"Economically, militarily, scientifically ... in every way there is no place like space," Trump said in the East Room. "My administration is reclaiming America's heritage as the world's greatest space faring nation. The essence of the American character is to explore new horizons and to tame new frontiers, but our destiny beyond the Earth is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security."