Trouble Ahead for Space Force
Budget

Trouble Ahead for Space Force

CARLOS BARRIA

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) is not currently a supporter of President Trump’s plan to create a Space Force as an independent branch of the U.S. military. He did not include Space Force on a list that he produced this week of his top priorities for military spending next year, The Hill reported.

“It wasn’t on my list because I don’t think we need it,” Inhofe told reporters earlier this week. “I have time and time again, ever since this subject came up, I’ve said there are two things you have to answer. One is, is it going to do a better job than we’re doing today? And then two, it’s going to cost more — how much more money is it going to cost?”

Inhofe said he hasn’t received any answers to those questions, but he could change his mind depending on what he hears from the White House and the Pentagon in the coming weeks.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), who will chair the House Armed Services Committee starting in January, is also no fan of the proposed service. He has said that he wants to avoid creating a new and expensive – Space Force could cost anywhere from $5 billion to $13 billion over the first five years, according to various estimates – bureaucracy within the Pentagon.

“It costs more money than it nets,” Smith told the Defense Writers Group recently. “I think there is bipartisan concern about creating a separate branch of the military for space.”

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