Business Corpus: If Trump Can't Even Build His Wall, Can He Build A Space Force?Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration will seek $8 billion over the next five years to establish a Space Force by 2020. The post If Trump Can't Even Build His Wall, Can He Build A Space Force? appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday the Trump administration will seek $8 billion over the next five years to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the military by 2020.

The plan comes amid deep skepticism that a Department of the Space Force will ever get off the ground to join the Department of the Navy, Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force.

Building a Space Force would require an act of Congress to create the first new branch of the military since the Air Force was formed in 1947. In the process, a Space Force would reshuffle the Pentagon's sprawling bureaucracy as well as billions of dollars in budgeting, likely setting off intense turf wars.

To that end, Deputy Secretary of Defense Shanahan submitted a report to Congress Thursday that outlines the Pentagon's efforts. They include:

creating a U.S. Space Command led by a four-star general or flag officer
establishing a Space Development Agency to "develop and field space capabilities at speed and scale"
developing an elite Space Operations Command similar to the Special Operations Command
building the services, and support functions of the Space Force

Pence also said Thursday that the Pentagon will create a new assistant secretary of defense position that eventually would become Secretary of the Space Force.

A Space Force also would likely increase spending for companies like Boeing (BA), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC), Raytheon (RTN) and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Shares of Boeing were down 0.9% on the stock market today. Lockheed was flat, Northrop lost 1.1% and Raytheon eased 0.5%.

Space Force May Hit A Wall In Congress

To be sure, the Pentagon and defense analysts have been warning for years that space is becoming a contested space and a potential war-fighting domain.

And with satellites supporting more of the U.S. economy and military, space is now more of a vulnerability as Russia and China ramp up their offensive potential.

The Air Force currently is in charge of the Pentagon's efforts in space. So is a separate Space Force the right answer?

A new branch of the military would just be another layer of expensive, unnecessary bureaucracy, said Marco Caceres, senior space analyst at the Teal Group, who also doubts Trump will secure the money for it.

"From what I've observed of President Trump is he doesn't really have staying power when he proposes something. He'll say it in a few speeches, but it doesn't really go anywhere," Caceres said.

"If he can't get funding from Congress to build a wall to deal with illegal immigration, which was the basis of his campaign, then he's not going to get money from Congress to get Space Force."

In addition, a new service would still have to compete against the other established branches for funding. The Pentagon's budget is already stretched with spending on Lockheed's F-35 fighter jet, Northrop's B-21 bomber, several massive shipbuilding programs, and missile defense priorities.

Space Command Gets Elevated

So far, Congress has only authorized money to create a U.S. Space Command in the fiscal 2019 defense spending bill. But it didn't include language about establishing a Space Force.

Top brass at the Pentagon aren't sold yet either. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told Congress to keep space operations with in the Air Force.

Defense Secretary James Mattis even argued against a separate Space Force last year when some members of Congress called for the new branch.

But Pentagon will establish U.S. Space Command as the eleventh unified combatant command, on par with Central Command, Pacific Command and other regional commands responsible for military operations.

"We need to address space as a developing war-fighting domain and a combatant command is certainly one thing that we can we can establish," Mattis said Tuesday. "This is a process we're in."

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The post If Trump Can't Even Build His Wall, Can He Build A Space Force? appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.