Speaker 1: You're listening to comedy Central. Space Force the latest branch
Speaker 1: of the Armed Forces that, after thirty years of planning,
Speaker 1: finally sprung into existence thanks to the support of our
Speaker 1: last military genius. We are going to have the Space Force.
Speaker 1: But after a rocky launch, most Americans still don't know
Speaker 1: what Space Force actually does. Until now. I'm here at
Speaker 1: the Pentagon to find out what Space Force, the six
Speaker 1: and coolest branch of the U. S Military does. I'm
Speaker 1: talking spaceships, lasers. It's the military in space burning. Let's
Speaker 1: go check it out. Don't ask me how I got clearance.
Speaker 1: I'm not even an American citizen. Somehow I scored an
Speaker 1: interview with the very first head of Space Force, Force,
Speaker 1: Star General J Raymond, at the Geometry Theme headquarters of
Speaker 1: the US Department of Defense. Obviously a space military as
Speaker 1: cool as hell, but I wasn't sure what they actually do,
Speaker 1: so I made sure to prepare for this exclusive one
Speaker 1: on one interview. John Raymond. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: thanks Ny seeing you on this um. Why is it
Speaker 1: called the Pentagon? Have you ever seen the Pentagon shape?
Speaker 1: What you're seeing Pentagon is a shape like what pentagon.
Speaker 1: Take a look at the bully. You obviously studied hard
Speaker 1: in school. Okay, general Space Force, we're talking lasers, spaceships, rockets,
Speaker 1: fighting aliens. Absolutely not. The mission of the Space Force
Speaker 1: is really to protect and defend the cape buldies that
Speaker 1: we have in space and to deter conflict from beginning
Speaker 1: in space or extending into space. What does Space Force do?
Speaker 1: Let me give you an example. We operate for the
Speaker 1: world free to charge the GPS constellation that provides you
Speaker 1: navigation and provides the world a timing signal for everybody use.
Speaker 1: Most people don't know that that's provided free a charge
Speaker 1: by the United States Space Force. Space Force gives GPS
Speaker 1: for free to the world. Why don't you open with that,
Speaker 1: call theselves the GPS Force, because we do a lot
Speaker 1: more than that. Yeah, but you go with the thing
Speaker 1: that people know that we do a lot more than
Speaker 1: that communication salites. We have missile warning satellites that detect
Speaker 1: any kind of launch around the globe and provide warning
Speaker 1: of that. And so it's very critical to us, and
Speaker 1: our competitors or adversaries have have watched us and have
Speaker 1: seen us integrate space into everything that we do well. Adversaries,
Speaker 1: specifically Russian China and their buildings space capabilities for their
Speaker 1: own use. So, for example, they have a satellite that
Speaker 1: they launched in two thousand seventeen. I call it a
Speaker 1: nesting doll satellite. It's a satellite that opens up in
Speaker 1: another satellite comes out and it opens up and a
Speaker 1: projectile comes out. Oh my god, designed to kill a satellite.
Speaker 1: Do all these nations satellites adopt their countries cultures? Like
Speaker 1: there's a Chinese satellite come out in chopsticks come out
Speaker 1: and like pick on the other satellites. China has a
Speaker 1: satellite that has a robotic arm with chopsticks on, a
Speaker 1: robotic arm that can reach out and in the future
Speaker 1: grabbing on the satellite, and satellite don't like to be grabbed.
Speaker 1: What is the plan to stop that? I won't go
Speaker 1: into all the details of what we can do, but
Speaker 1: let's just say I'm very comfortable that we can protect
Speaker 1: and defend ourselves. That's all in US as hell. I
Speaker 1: still wasn't sure why America's already bloated military needed a
Speaker 1: whole new military when we already have five other militaries. General,
Speaker 1: why did space force become its own branch of the military.
Speaker 1: The Air Force has a lot of responsibilities that it does.
Speaker 1: It's primarily focused on the air domain. And the thought
Speaker 1: was because space was so critical to us, um we
Speaker 1: had to stand up a separate service to be able
Speaker 1: to focus on it. So atmosphere wise, where does the
Speaker 1: air force end and space force begin? There's really not
Speaker 1: a firm, you know, dedicated recognized clouds. But what we
Speaker 1: what what happens is above clouds Space force, below clouds
Speaker 1: Air force. You can think of above where airplanes work,
Speaker 1: wings work, and where orbit onnamics takes over roughly about
Speaker 1: a hundred kilometers, So above a hundred kilometers that's where
Speaker 1: the space Force people are. No. In fact, our forces
Speaker 1: is on the ground, so they come in every day
Speaker 1: and sit behind a computer. Largely a lot of their
Speaker 1: work is done behind computers, in terminals operating capabilities, or
Speaker 1: on an optical telescopes looking out in space. So space
Speaker 1: Force is less starship troopers and more office space. But
Speaker 1: all these keyboard warriors even ready to protect us from
Speaker 1: the real threat facing mankind. Have you considered maybe looking
Speaker 1: a little outwards and looking at the threats that are
Speaker 1: external that might be coming to Earth, For example, aliens
Speaker 1: that might be coming. So again, our mission is a
Speaker 1: little bit closer to home. NASA's mission is more exploratory
Speaker 1: and more science. And so they have gone out and
Speaker 1: I I get it, General Space Force, GPS, NASA, no ship,
Speaker 1: but we need some dudes who look as scary as
Speaker 1: you with guns pointing out woods in case aliens calm.
Speaker 1: I'm not naive or or or closed minded to think that, uh,
Speaker 1: there might be something that that would be out there,
Speaker 1: but we're not focused on aliens. All right. Well, it
Speaker 1: just seems like it's a big hole in the national
Speaker 1: defense plan, and if no one's going to plug that hole,
Speaker 1: I just feel like maybe space forces step up and
Speaker 1: you know, maybe provide some orbital defense against aliens. Thanks
Speaker 1: for your advice, Okay, well, General, thank you for taking
Speaker 1: the time to speak to me. Even though Space Force
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with flazers or aliens or spaceships,
Speaker 1: and I wish it was cooler. I do appreciate the
Speaker 1: need for a GPS system that works. Thank you for
Speaker 1: the opportunity. I couldn't be more proud the guardians that
Speaker 1: I appreciate the opportunity to tell their story because most
Speaker 1: Americans don't understand what they do I agree, so, even
Speaker 1: though I'm still not show what it does, Space Force
Speaker 1: represents what the American government does best by new ways
Speaker 1: to give billions of dollars to the military industrial complex.
Speaker 1: But hey, if they're going to offer free GPS, then
Speaker 1: I say, live law and prosperous Space Force. The Daily
Speaker 1: Show with Trevor Noah ears editions. Subscribe to The Daily
Speaker 1: Show on YouTube for exclusive contents, and stream full episodes
Speaker 1: anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central
Speaker 1: podcast