Spacecraft in flight in June 2017

Stockholm (KTN) — The Royal Defense Forces will be receiving its sixth branch in 2018 after the Parliament approved of the move. The Royal Aerospace Service, a proposal made by Chancellor Margaret Harrison after extensive discussions with the Royal Defense Council, will become an independent branch on 3 June 2018. Prior to the unification of Qvait and Winston Island, the former maintained a space force integrated within the air force. Post-unification, the Royal Air Service assumed control of Qvait's space force as a dependent service. Now that there will be an independent space branch, the move has been met with mixed reactions. Supporters hailed the move as a historic moment for space exploration, but critics consider it to be the first step towards an arms race in space.

When Harrison took office as President of Qvait on 1 April 2016, she initiated a dialogue with military leaders on the feasibility of establishing an independent space force, which led to a government-led research project on the matter, which took more than a year to finish. On 17 September 2017, the report was made available to Harrison by Grand General Ivan Jennings, the Chief of the Defense Staff. The findings of the report, which were made public on 25 September, determined that it would take about six months to separate the space force from the Royal Air Service and that such a move would not negatively effect "the performance of the entire military apparatus" of Valkyria. On 27 September, Harrison made the decision to propose the move to Parliament.

Before the proposal, only a few politicians knew what Harrison planned to do. Avianna Aldridge, who had been the Valkyrian Secretary of Foreign Affairs between 1 August 2016 and 2 May 2017 and held the equivalent position between 1 April 2016 and 1 August 2017 in the Qvaitican government, had direct knowledge of the research project from its inception, knowledge of which she had made public shortly after the proposal by Harrison. When reached by KTN News, former Vice Chancellor Elena Reese of The Greens denied that she had any knowledge of the research project, "Apparently, the Chancellor did not disclose to me the existence of this project." Reese told KTN News that she is "disappointed" that Harrison would not tell her about the research project and said that "there is probably a reason why she wouldn't tell" her.

Because of the secrecy of the research project and that Reese was not informed of it, Dominic McKinney openly considered whether to pull The Greens out of the Alliance of Social Democrats. The mere consideration of it gave McKinney an invitation to Executive Valkyria by Harrison to attend a Royal Defense Council meeting on the topic of the space force. As a subordinate arm of the Royal Air Service, the space force has been an unarmed contingent of the military, which Harrison has promised to McKinney would remain as such should it become an independent branch of the Royal Defense Forces. However, sources told KTN News that McKinney was still critical of the proposal and was questioning Harrison's "true intent" of forming a new military branch in the Royal Defense Forces.

The Greens were not alone in their skepticism as members of the Labor Party were also critical. Labor MP Jason Sullivan, who has long been critical of Harrison, took to CNC's midday news program The News at 12 to say, "Like father, like daughter," invoking Jonathan Ambrose, the late fourth President of Qvait, who was labelled a "warmonger" by his opponents, especially by Sullivan himself. Sullivan, who himself had organized numerous protests against Ambrose in the late 1980s, said, "Harrison is presenting a proposal with overtones that hearken back to the days of her father." However, Harrison's supporters, such as Defense Secretary Julia Burns, have criticized Sullivan in the past for making an "unfair criticism" by "trying to place guilt" on a person who had only been a child when her father was President.

Margaret Harrison in April 2017

On 28 September, Harrison pushed back against criticism by saying that the space force "has always been unarmed and always will be." She also dismissed concerns from The Greens as being "on the verge of conspiratorial talk". In spite of shaky support from The Greens and some members of her coalition, Harrison has found solid support from Centrist Democrats and Conservatives. Victor Cutter and Jonathan Victor, the Leaders of the Centrist Democratic Parliamentary Group and The Parliamentary Conservatives respectively, made a joint statement in which both leaders endorsed the separation of the space force from the Royal Air Service. Also in a rare moment of agreement, Nicole Chancellor, the Leader of The New Right Group, also announced her support for Harrison's proposal.

Shortly after Harrison's proposal, Aldridge endorsed the plan and called it "essential for humankind's future." Taeler Shaw, Vice Chancellor and Leader of the Populist–Left Parliamentary Group, stood by Harrison and supported the proposal by calling it "a step toward the future." Socialist Leader Amalia Rollins, having shown early reluctance, supported the proposal and said it was "one small step for a human, one giant leap for humankind." Nathan Martinez, the Leader of the Parliamentary Group of Social Liberals, also showed his support for the proposal and called it "a needed step into a new world." Even though the leaders of the Alliance of Social Democrats, excluding The Greens, supported the proposal, a number of backbenchers from the ASD parties opposed it with Sullivan.

The proposal came in the form of the Independent Space Service Act of 2017, which was proposed by Aldridge on 2 October. In the ISSA, the Royal Aerospace Service would become an independent branch of the Royal Defense Forces, but would retain the rank structure of the Royal Air Service. Only three branches—the Royal Ground Service, the Royal Special Services, and the National Gendarmerie—shared the same rank structure before the passage of the ISSA. The Royal Naval Services and Royal Air Service maintained their own rank structures. Once the ISSA goes into full effect, the eleven-member Royal Defense Council will receive an additional seat for the Royal Aerospace Service's highest-ranking commissioned officer, the Grand Marshal.

The ISSA would prohibit the use of firearms and weaponized rockets in the Royal Aerospace Service, a provision that was included in the bill with the intent to "quell the concerns of The Greens", according to Shaw. The bill would also add 91 billion Pacific dollars to the budget of the Valkyrian Aerospace Exploration Agency, which is part of the Department of the Environment. In total, the budget of the VAEA would become 111 billion Pacific dollars annually, a 455 percent increase from 20 billion Pacific dollars. However, the increase to the budget of the VAEA hemorrhaged Conservative support when MP Chase Garza, the leader of the classical liberal faction of The Parliamentary Conservatives, announced his opposition to the ISSA.

On 3 October, Harrison held an interview with KTN News' Allie Vega and explained the purpose of the ISSA, "This bill will give us the necessary tools to go beyond this planet, travel to the moons and other planets, and eventually colonize them." Harrison said that the ISSA would give Valkyria between 10 to 15 years to travel to the moons, 30 to 40 years to build research facilities, and 50 to 75 years to successfully colonize. The Chancellor recognized that it is an ambitious plan, "We are shooting for the moon, literally, and this is about the continuity of humankind. The future of humankind is living not just on one planet, but many others and their moons." Harrison also spoke of terraforming, "We need to have a substantive discussion on terraforming, the benefits of it, and the potential consequences. It is imperative."

Valkyrian Space Station in July 2017

On 10 October, the National Assembly overwhelmingly approved of the ISSA by a vote of 527–62 and in the Citizens' Assembly by 80–16. As a result of the ISSA's passage, the Royal Air Service will have seven months to disentangle itself from the currently-dependent space force. The Royal Aerospace Service is expected to be formally established on 3 June 2018.