It was likely inevitable that the United States Space Force, the sixth and newest branch of the United States military, would face comparisons to popular culture. Its mission is to “secure our Nation’s interest in, from, and to space.” That already sounds like something a comic book writer might use to describe the role of the Space Force Guardians, its military and civilian members.

Since it was founded in December 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first administration, it has drawn scrutiny for some of its branding choices.

Just a month after its founding, there were suggestions that the Space Force’s official seal , which features a “delta symbol” over a globe with longitude and latitude grid lines and stars in the background, closely resembled the fictional Starfleet Command seal from the Star Trek TV and movie series. That was an unfair comparison, as the Starfleet logo was likely based on the imagery used by the early U.S. Army Air Forces, which used the delta symbol, as well as early Air Force space organization emblems dating back to 1961.

Last year, when the U.S. Space Force introduced its service dress uniform , it was compared to the angled jackets seen in the rebooted Battlestar Galactica TV series and even to the Imperial uniforms from Star Wars.

Moreover, asymmetry and metallic elements have been a staple of sci-fi since the days of Flash Gordon .

The controversy was ramped up on Monday, when President Trump unveiled a new proposed service dress uniform in a post on social media that gives off even more sinister vibes. With a color palette consisting of “Space Gray,” “Midnight Block,” “Silver Gray,” and “Satin Black,” a cut of the jacket that removes the angled buttons, and tall leather jackboots, it is hard not to see a comparison to the “Imperial” officer uniforms of Star Wars .

Although no mention was made of the popular franchise set in a galaxy far, far away, its design was “Inspired by the Discipline of the Starship Troops uniform modernized for the guardians of the space domain,” referencing the 1997 science fiction film directed by Paul Verhoeven and based on the 1959 novel by Robert A. Heinlein.

Big Reactions On Social Media

It is unlikely that AI-generated uniform design, which the president first posted to social media on Monday, is an official call for a new service uniform. Trump regularly posts and shares AI-generated videos and images, but in this case, it was also reposted by Rapid Response 47, the “Official White House Rapid Response account,” which supports the president’s America First agenda and claims to hold “the Fake News accountable.”

The posts on X quickly created a firestorm from critics who even questioned whether Trump understood the symbolism of the uniforms, which were compared not only to Star Wars and the parody Space Balls , but also the designer uniforms used by Nazi Germany before the Second World War.

“I liked the movie, which was very different than the book. My concern is whether these guys understand the point Verhoeven intended in Starship Troopers. The thing is I don’t know what would be worse: whether they got it or didn’t,” wrote Jonah Goldberg, the editor-in-chief at The Dispatch, in a post on X .

Terrence O’Brien, the weekend editor for The Verge, offered a similar sentiment , writing, “I don’t think Trump knows who the good guys are in Star Wars. The president posted an image that purports to show the next generation of United States Space Force dress uniforms and, well… they sure look a lot like Imperial officer garb. (Which itself is inspired in part by German SS uniforms.)”

One irony that may have been lost on the White House is that Starship Troopers employed “fascist chic” as a satirical take on fascism, where slick aesthetics, propaganda, and unquestioning patriotism mask totalitarianism.

Very Unlikely There Is A New Space Force Uniform

It was only last month that the United States Space Force Honor Guard unveiled its new ceremonial service dress uniform at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C.

Likewise, the standard service dress uniform was only rolled out in 2025, and it is still only being adopted service-wide. Introducing an entirely new service dress uniform would be costly for the Space Force and its personnel.

As a reminder, there was already controversy over those uniforms!