Enlarge / Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson and Gen. David L. Goldfein, right, Chief of Staff, prepare for a Senate Armed Services Committee in 2017. (credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) On Monday, President Trump went off script and announced that he would remove responsibilities for the space domain from the US Air Force and create a sixth branch of the armed forces he calls the Space Force. "We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal," Trump said Monday, at the outset of a meeting of the National Space Council.