# What military system would be best for Space Federation?



## watermark (Jan 29, 2017)

So a question for military buffs. If humanity were to form a combined Space Federation in the far future, what would it be based on? 

I mean, spaceships would be like a Navy or the Air Force, the ground troops sent to conquer planets would be like an Army, and the space marines are well, Marines. So who would be in charge? Right now on earth these branches are separately led by different generals who report to maybe a president or parliament for final approval. But I'm sure the day to day operations would still be run by the generals. What would it be like for a Space force?


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## The Fantastical (Jan 29, 2017)

If you read most sci-fi the excepted route is to have a new form of government, a galactic or universal or confederate government body that either overrules the individual governments or has totally replaced them. From there you would have the normal hierarchy type system as you work your way down to the ground troops with your generals at the top.


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## Winston (Jan 29, 2017)

As a student of history with a focus on military affairs, I'd advise a look at the Cold War example.  The Warsaw Pact (Soviets)  used a central. command-based structure limiting individual decisions.  While NATO (US) favored a "general plan" model where tactical decisions were largely left in the hands of local commanders.  At this moment, one of those systems is in the "dustbin of history" (whilst the other is committing suicide?). 

This is a global example.  Now, imagine the command and control nightmare an interstellar federation would encounter.  Of course, you could violate basics physics by giving your characters instantaneous communication ability.  Not likely and not believable.  We'd like to believe that some central authority could run affairs better than local control, but history has proven otherwise.

No, think of the armies of antiquity (ie The Roman Legions).  Strong men were given limited autonomy by the government to wage war.  They lived off the resources of the conquered, subjugating and incorporation the vanquished.  

That is your army of the future.  The army of our past.


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## K.S. Crooks (Feb 4, 2017)

I think there would be four separate branches: a marines-type division responsible for inter-planetary needs, including transport- an army, navy and air force division for activity on a planet. When people are going somewhere new then the marines would be the first one to go. Of course you could use the Starfleet or Battlestar or Starship Troopers model.


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