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A billion posts about some garbage AI representation of a potential uniform that's almost certainly not gonna happen, and nothing for the Isar launch. Shameful really.
Pretty good given the last launch went like this:
Interesting that it's the first ever Propane/LOX rocket to reach orbit, seems like a decent combo for smaller rockets given the high density, but I'm no propellant engineer.
my favourite generic as fuck space army guy who all look exactly the same to anyone who didn't have the game when they were 12 is probably the dog from jet force gemini
Iirc the whole point of the space force anyway was largely "yeah so the Navy, Air Force, and Army are doing a buncha space stuff, lets just make a seperate branch for that to consolidate and coordinate better"
They're not even actually making them it's just some fanart they used without crediting the artist, so that the retarded people still on the migger train like captive dreamer can pretend they're winning anything
I don't have a particular issue with the cut. I hate the color scheme. It looks like the Wehrmacht. I'm sure Little Billy the Internet Nazi will shit down my throat but America has a certain visual grammar it's used, for a very long time, with military uniforms and monuments and such and it's mostly a tendency towards plain-looking clothes and colors that suggest the soldier is an everyman and a heroic presence, which is almost the opposite of things looking imperial or imposing. We mostly build statues of individual citizen-soldiers and equestrian statues of officers, but not so much grandiose, monumental architecture. We use tans and olive drab and earlier on blues.
I think the mockup someone shared after your post of the same cut with white looks considerably better.
I don't have an issue with the Space Force existing, but I don't really understand why there was a need for it to be made independent like it's a whole separate theater of war, because my impression is that the Air Force - which was itself split from the army around the time that aerial warfare had matured enough that things like strategic bombing campaigns called for a whole separate organizational apparatus to support it - already extends naturally into satellites, missiles etc. which is all the Space Force currently does.
See, I find that kind of uniform philosophy fucking boring. Let's look at the Entente from WWI, because that's where I realized how overrated Evil Guy aesthetics are. (And I think aesthetics matter, it says something about the values of a culture, just like it matters in architecture.)
American doughboy
Highlander
Poilu
ANZAC
Sikh
What all of these have in common is that (except for the ANZAC) every one of them is unmistakably, at a glance, military, but they all suggest a big rich world beyond the military. The poilu suggests something of a culture that still values art and creativity and expressiveness, sees pageantry and play as fitting naturally with warfare, and that's how the French were. Of all the belligerents, they were the only one who decided to take trench art (the beautiful decorated shells and little bullet statues that soldiers metalworked in the trenches) and put on an exhibition. The uber scary uber kommando uber effective kaiser's sturmtruppen with the spike on the helmet? (you know, the dudes that lost to the red pants faggots?) They were the belligerent that was the most HOSTILE to that and kind of suppressed it as macabre. Oh, look at how big bad and scary we are, but surprisingly uncomfortable with death.
The Highlander and the Sikh have really goofy shit on that ties them to a long, ethnically-specific past. That kilt looks stupid and it's worn so confidently that it boomerangs back around to being fucking awesome. Likewise, I know India is the new target of the Kiwi Farms Two Minutes Hate, but I like turbans (Scots wore them in the past, French actually wore a lot of them at one point). This could be whatever your culture wants it to be, in an alternative world where America was less gay and uptight it could be like powdered wigs or tricornes or some shit for us, but again, you look at it and it really pops how much this culture loves "where it comes from."
The Aussie and the American are plain as hell. That's the point. The uniforms still don't quite have the poverty of Soviet uniforms from WW2, but they suggest men who have normal day jobs, probably working as mechanics and farmworkers and shit. When the Empire's UBERSOLDAT marches in with spikes, is a little girl going to run up to them for a candy bar? Are widows and children going to trust that cosmic order is being restored and the world is safe again? Fuck on. When goofy shorts nigga or boring bland GI marches in, will they? Yes.
Fuck German uniforms and the whole philosophy they represent.
I don't have an issue with the Space Force existing, but I don't really understand why there was a need for it to be made independent like it's a whole separate theater of war, because my impression is that the Air Force - which was itself split from the army around the time that aerial warfare had matured enough that things like strategic bombing campaigns called for a whole separate organizational apparatus to support it - already extends naturally into satellites, missiles etc. which is all the Space Force currently does.
It really doesnt though. Space domain warfare and considerations are vastly different to terrestrial ones. For one thing, the very concept of orbital mechanics can be difficult for an officer who has spent his entire life thinking in straight lines to wrap their head around. Ironically submarine captains are probably the only officers in the service right now that might be in the right frame of mind for space warfare.
Then there is the considerations and logistics for GETTING to Space. A launch facility is not the same thing as an air base. The logistics of it are entirely different, as are the risk tolerance considerations and what requirements you need to fulfill on any given mission.
Finally its just simply beaurocratic. The Air Force wasnt the only branch finding itself doing space shit. The Army and the Navy were too. Neither were willing to give up their space shit to the Air Force. Making a dedicated space warfare branch made the transfers more palatable from an inter service dick waving perspective.
It really doesnt though. Space domain warfare and considerations are vastly different to terrestrial ones. For one thing, the very concept of orbital mechanics can be difficult for an officer who has spent his entire life thinking in straight lines to wrap their head around.
Yeah, that's the thing - and again, I'm not opposed to the Space Force existing, it just always struck as me being a chest-beating political stunt - I don't know as anybody is really doing anything that involves that beyond a one body problem and the one body problem seems perfectly fine for the Air Force already. We don't have space warships (that I'm aware of) that are out cruising.
Yeah, as I understand that's exactly the comparison for realistic space warfare. "There's no stealth in space," but there is in the sense that even if you can't hide your heat signature, you can still hide in plain sight in the sense that the enemy has to pick you out of a crowded field of vision and correctly identify where you're burning to. You add in the possibility of decoys and how fragile these things are going to be and the fact that military forces just always spread out to the limits of their effective range and you wind up with something that looks like a race to identify the trajectory (that narrows down), "running cold" (like running silent) on final approach and it ends in a duel of who identifies the target and gets a shot off first. All of which resembles submarine warfare/missile age naval warfare.
Finally its just simply beaurocratic. The Air Force wasnt the only branch finding itself doing space shit. The Army and the Navy were too. Neither were willing to give up their space shit to the Air Force. Making a dedicated space warfare branch made the transfers more palatable from an inter service dick waving perspective.
They do. Space Force is supposed to have those units and troops rolled into them.
The Army is actually being a bigger prick about it then the Air Force ironically. Congress is probably going to have to beat the Generals with a stick eventually.
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — The Army established its new Space Operations Branch on June 12, marking a historic milestone in its continuous transformation to meet the challenges of modern, multidomain warfare.
The new branch consolidates the career paths of the Army’s space professionals, uniting Functional Area 40A Space Operations Officers and the newly created 40D enlisted Tactical Space Operations Specialists into a single, permanent force. These professionals provide vital close-space support the Army needs to plan, communicate, navigate, engage the enemy, provide missile warning and protect forces.
“The Army is the largest user of space capabilities in the joint force, and space integration is absolutely critical to multidomain operations at every echelon,” said Lt. Gen. John L. Rafferty, commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. “Establishing the Space Operations Branch is an important step in the Army’s continuous transformation. It provides the Army with the professional structure to deliver space-based effects directly to our Soldiers and units at the tactical edge enabling commanders to fight and win in a contested, multidomain environment.”
While FA40 Space Operations Officers have served the Army since 1999, they previously lacked an enlisted counterpart. The Army leveraged enlisted personnel from the Air Defense Artillery, Signal and Military Intelligence branches to execute space missions on a temporary basis.
“For too long, enlisted Soldiers with specialized space training and experience rotated through critical space assignments, eventually returning to their basic branches,” Rafferty said. “The rotational system served the U.S. Army well in the past but will not meet the demands of the future, which requires a professional and sustainable approach to training, career progression and leader development for Army Space Soldiers. This historic step ensures we build a highly-trained corps of space professionals to keep pace with the expanding force structure in our space brigade, multidomain task forces and theater strike effects groups.”
Establishing the Space Operations Branch relieves operational pressure on those donor branches. This transition allows ADA, Signal and MI to decrease non-mission-essential billets and redistribute Soldiers to critical vacancies, ultimately optimizing readiness across the wider Army. Effective Oct. 1, 2026, the 40D MOS creates a permanent career path in space operations for active duty, National Guard and Reserve component Soldiers in the ranks of specialist to sergeant major.
“Land power requires warfighting expertise in all domains,” said Gen. Christoper LaNeve, vice chief of staff of the Army. “What makes me proud is that our Army is not just building a capability, we’re growing professionals at every echelon. That’s what the 40D MOS is about — Soldiers delivering the foundational excellence our Joint Force depends on.”
The Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence trains and educates space operations professionals across the joint force, enabling transformation in contact for resilient space systems and dedicated counterspace capabilities.
“The establishment of the new Army Space Branch is a critical step forward in strengthening the profession,” said Col. Felix Torres, commandant, Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence. “It will standardize and streamline the critical knowledge, training and education required for our 40A and 40D cohorts, ensuring our space professionals remain elite, agile and prepared for multidomain operations. Space is no longer a benign environment and enabler, but a battlefield,” he added.
Russia, China and other adversaries intend to compete with the United States in space. These increasing threats necessitate a strategic approach to recruit, train and retain top talent.
As the Army grows its space force structure across the globe, the branch designation brings the 2024 Army Space Vision to fruition.
“For 27 years, Army space officers have been working to normalize Army space operations, and that’s what this branch designation now does for the Army,” said Brig. Gen. Don Brooks, USASMDC deputy commanding general. “It normalizes our two pillars — integration of joint, coalition and commercial space capabilities; and interdiction of adversary space capabilities — into concepts of operations, schemes of movement and maneuver, and fires. It gives us a rallying point: that we all now belong to a branch.”
