Space News by Sandra Erwin — June 27, 2018
Army Space and Missile Defense Command's Brig. Gen. Tim Lawson: “Do we want to be part of the Space Force? That is yet to be determined"
WASHINGTON — If and when a new military branch for space gets off the ground, its ranks would be dominated by airmen. But Army soldiers also would have a role by virtue of much they rely on military satellites in peacetime or in war.
More than 70 percent of the Army’s major weapons and equipment need satellites to function. About 2,220 active-duty soldiers, reservists and civilians make up the “space forces†under the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
“We are the biggest users of space,†said Brig. Gen. Tim Lawson, deputy commanding general for operations at the Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
The Army has not publicly weighed in on whether any of its units should be part of the Space Force. Lawson said it’s only been two weeks since President Trump ordered the Pentagon to create a Space Force so it’s too soon to tell. “We’ll see where it takes us,†he said on Wednesday at the 2018 MilSatCom USA conference in Arlington, Virginia.
More:
http://spacenews.com/army-troops-could-be-headed-to-the-space-force/
