House Votes to Make ‘Space Corps’ the Sixth Branch of US Military

Space Branch of the Military Would Be Split Off From Air Force

The US has an Army, a Navy, an Air Force, a Marine Corps, and a Coast Guard. The House Armed Services Committee today voted to create a sixth branch of the American military, dubbed the US Space Corps, which would be wholly responsible for fighting wars in space.

The Space Corps would largely be split off from the Air Force, which was the last new branch of the military created, way back in 1947. The proposal is a continuation of the Pentagon’s increasing efforts in recent years to get heavy funding for space combat.

This comes just a couple of weeks after the Air Force created a Deputy Chief of Staff post of Space Operations, and significantly undercuts their efforts to be in charge of US military’s increasing focus on future space wars.

All of this, of course, has been happening in spite of no other country on the planet having invested significant resources in fighting in space, meaning there’s no plausible adversary for the US to fight in this future space war they’re bankrolling.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.