When we think of the United States military, we think of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. Shockingly enough, within the next few years, we can also be seeing a new branch of the military: the United States Space Corps.

Will this include saving Earth from the attack of the aliens from outer space? Not exactly. With growing threats from potential adversaries such as China and Russia in space, some say that this new branch of could be necessary. Some sources say that China and Russia have more advanced military space capabilities.

On that note, the establishment of the Space Force could send the wrong message to the world and signal a growing militarization of space. With growing tensions particularly between, America and Russia, after their potential interference in the 2016 Presidential Election and Russia becoming increasingly uncooperative on the international scale, the Space Force could be another source of tension between the two powers.

With China trying to cement their bastion of international influence, they could also attempt to militarize space. China has not been afraid of criticism in their space policy; of particular note is in 2007 when they tested an anti-satellite weapon on one of their domestic satellites. The result of this successful test was the creation of thousands of pieces of space junk that remain in orbits today used by satellites, with the potential to damage them in the event of a collision.

This competitiveness in outer space could be a repetition of history for America and Russia, as seen with the Space Race that started in the late 1950s. Instead of America and Russia competing to see who will walk on the moon first, they would be competing to see who has the strongest military force in space.

The idea of the Space Force raises more questions. Is there actually a threat in outer space? Would the creation of a new branch solve any current issues or raise capabilities that the current service’s space organizations are not capable of handling? Right now, some of the largest threats to national defense stem from cyber threats, with state sponsored hacking occurring continuously against United States interests daily. Cyber threats are a growing concern in general, particularly recently due to the interfering of elections bringing awareness to the issue.

Although the possibility of a Space Force is the new talk in the news, it cannot be predicted yet what will happen. Currently structured legislation would have the new space corps come from existing Air Force assets, but the Air Force is opposed to the idea as it would be taking away assets from them. The House and Senate might not vote for this new legislation. Although Congress has laid the groundwork to establish it by 2019, that is two years away. James Mattis, the Secretary of Defense, has not even commented on this new possibility yet. Right now, there are both pros and cons to this idea, and it remains a possibility that should soon be answered.