WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2019) The US Space Force proposed by President Donald Trump would cost between $1.4 billion and $3.2 billion to establish and up to $1.5 billion a year to pay thousands of employees and cover overhead, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in a report released on Thursday.
The Space Force would require 5,400 to 7,800 management positions on top of about 22,900 service members and civilians transferred from other branches of the US military, the report said.
"Those new positions would increase DoD's [Department of Defense] costs by $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion a year," the report said. "In addition, CBO estimates, establishing a new military department would incur onetime costs of $1.4 billion to $3.2 billion, mostly for new office facilities."
In February, Trump signed a directive that centralized all military space functions under a Space Force division within the Air Force.
Trump administration officials called the decision a step toward eventually creating a sixth branch of the US armed forces, which would require Congressional approval.
