US Vice President Mike Pence announced plans on August 9th, for a new, separate US Space Force as a 6th military service by 2020.

At the same time, the Defence Department released a study of its space operations. The new Space Force would defend America’s satellite systems in outer space. The establishment of a Space Force would require congressional approval, and Pence said President Donald Trump’s administration would request funding for it in its next budget proposal due in February.

By the end of 2018, the Pentagon will establish a new four-star combatant command, U.S. Space Command, to oversee all of the U.S. military’s space-related operations, according to the 15-page report. The command would be led by a four-star general and would be akin to other top-level commands such as U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command or U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees space operations now.

The Defence Department will also establish a Space Development Agency, tasked with rapidly building and deploying new technology into space outside the bureaucratic confines of the Pentagon’s normal acquisition system.