The United States government has proposed a sixth military branch for the country’s armed forces as the White House has outlined plans to prepare for the next battlefield by creating a new ‘Space Force’ to counter the threats posed by China and Russia.

Envisaged as the sixth branch of the American military, the White House wants the Space Force to be created by 2020, when President Donald Trump’s term in office expires.

The White House further revealed that the steps towards establishing the Space Force include creating a Space Development Agency, a Space Operations Force and a United States Space Command.

Speaking to an audience at the Pentagon as he shed more light on the proposal, Vice-President Mike Pence said: “The time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces.

“To prepare for the next battlefield where America’s best and bravest will be called to deter and defeat a new generation of threats to our people, to our nation. The time has come to establish the United States Space Force.”

Pence cited the threat of the Chinese and Russian governments as a basis for establishing the new military branch, claiming that both Beijing and Moscow were aggressively developing anti-satellite capabilities.

He further alleged that both countries have been conducting highly sophisticated on-orbit activities that could enable them to manoeuvre their satellites into close proximity to America’s, posing unprecedented dangers to US space systems.

Trump had in June ordered the country’s defence officials to immediately begin work on establishing the new sixth force. The current branches of the US military are the Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force.