By John Haughey
The Center Square
January 5, 2019
In signing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), President Donald Trump officially created the United States Space Force, the nation’s first new military branch in more than 70 years.
U.S. Space Force’s start-up will be manned by 200 mostly U.S. Air Force transfers with a proposed first-year budget of $40 million – a fraction of the $14 billion a year the Pentagon will otherwise spend on space operations this Fiscal Year.
The tussle over where the new agency’s headquarters – U.S. Space Command – will be located is also a “war-fighting domain,” but one that Florida officials feel equipped to wage.
Florida’s congressional delegation, state lawmakers, Space Florida – the state’s public-private space agency – and the state Chamber of Commerce are among interests lobbying to locate U.S. Space Command in Florida despite a preliminary April recommendation by the U.S. Air Force that named six potential sites, including four in Colorado, to serve as headquarters.
According to some estimates, U.S. Space Command would eventually bring 1,200 high-paying jobs and draw an estimated $2 billion in direct Pentagon investment, “seed” money that could generate related employment for thousands and contribute as much as $5 billion in associated benefits, to the state and local economies where it is placed.
Florida is aggressively lobbying for the new headquarters, touting its long association with the nation’s space program, the Space Coast’s boom as a commercial aerospace nexus and its 29 electoral votes as compelling factors for President Donald Trump to consider Cape Canaveral Spaceport as U.S. Space Command.
State lawmakers are likely to see a resolution asking Trump to locate Space Command in the Sunshine State when their 60-day session begins Jan. 14.
And Gov. Ron DeSantis, thanking Trump for including an additional $1.5 billion in the NDAA to rebuild Tyndall Air Force Base from 2018’s Hurricane Michael, is the latest Florida official to remind the president the Sunshine State would make a fine place for U.S. Space Command.
“I am pleased to hear Space Force will become an official branch of our military,” DeSantis said Friday. “As you know, we believe that Florida would be the most strategic location to host this unique mission.”
State lawmakers are likely to see a resolution asking Trump to locate Space Command in the Sunshine State when their 60-day session begins Jan. 14.
The Florida House Local, Federal and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Dec. 11 advanced a memorial resolution asking Trump to locate Space Command in Florida – HM 443, filed by Reps. Tyler Sirois, R-Cocoa, and Anthony Sabatini, R-Howie-In-The-Hills.
The bill was passed by the subcommittee in a 10-0 vote and awaits a hearing before the House State Affairs Committee. Sirois sponsored a similar bill last year that passed the House but did not advance in the Senate,
“This would be a follow-up to our work last session and our efforts to communicate to Congress and the president that we would like to see not only the establishment of the U.S. Space Force, but also the location of that combatant command here in Florida,” Sirois said.
In 2006, the Legislature created Space Florida, a public-private state agency that operates five “spaceport” special districts. Its board of directors include Gov. DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez.
“U.S. Space Command belongs in Florida,” Nuñez said. “No other state hosts more combatant commands. Florida also is home to over 20 military installations. Additionally, Florida has a long history in support of our nation’s efforts in space. And our commercial space industry is booming.’
Florida is a top launch designation for the booming commercial aerospace and spaceflight industry with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Relativity Space and Firefly Aerospace among at least 21 firms investing in the state’s “spaceports.”
Trump directed the Pentagon in June 2018 to develop a Space Force, first new branch of the military since the U.S. Air Force in 1947.
But the proposed force approved in the NDAA is not in the “separate but equal” design Trump initially appeared to want.
Unlike the separate departments of the Navy, Army and Air Force, the U.S. Space Force will be administered by the Secretary of the Air Force much the same way the U.S. Marine Corps is administered by the Secretary of the Navy.
Under the NDAA, a four-star general must lead Space Force, with the title of Chief of Space Operations. The Chief of Space Operations will be a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but not in Space Force’s first year. Trump has named Air Force Gen. John W. Raymond to be commander of U.S. Space Command.