We already have the Air Force Space Command, which is the mission that The Space Force is going to take over. I'd say what they'll be doing is about a well defined as any other forces role.
We don't know what a major war in orbit will look like, but we don't know what a major war against modern naval powers would look like either.
The great-grandparent was providing a justification for splitting space operations off of AFSC, as its mission is "vague and nebulous" and manages to eat up money and personnel in an opaque manner.
You countered that other areas of the military could also be "vague and nebulous" and could be split off as well.
I put forth that the other areas you mentioned have well-defined purposes, but spacecraft do not.
First: now you have mentioned that we already have the AFSC. Doesn't this seem a bit circular to you?
Second, AFSC already operates satellites, including the GPS constellation. If the Space Command inherits ownership of those satellites it will indeed be "operating spacecraft" without any real or described grandiosity.
>now you have mentioned that we already have the AFSC. Doesn't this seem a bit circular to you?
I said it's hard to define what nebulous and expensive means. I don't think AFSC's mission isn't anymore nebulous and expensive than a whole host of other commands.
>operating spacecraft
Operating spacecraft is indeed a grandiose term for maintaining satellites.
You've gone from claiming that operating spacecraft doesn't fit what the Space Force would do (in your grandparent comment, before you edited it) to claiming that it's not relevant because they're only operating one spacecraft. I'm fairly certain you're not arguing in good faith, especially given the heavy editing of the grandparent comment after I replied to you.
I edited that before I saw that you responded. I said that operating military spacecraft is a grandiose description of what their mission is. It makes it sound like they have a fleet of spaceships fighting other enemy spaceships.
I never said it doesn't fit what they would do. I said it's not what they would do.
I also never said operating one spacecraft wasn't relevant.
I said that operating spacecraft is a grandiose and downright pretentious way to describe the mission of an agency with one remote controlled, scaled down space shuttle, testbed laboratory and some GPS satellites. And it is.
We don't know what a major war in orbit will look like, but we don't know what a major war against modern naval powers would look like either.