Last week, various representatives of the military-industrial complex went in front of the House Armed Services Committee and made their case for what America should do to get ready for war in space. These remarks were made available to the public, so I read them, because that is the sort of thing I enjoy doing.

The main thing that jumped out at me is how little faith these people with such close ties to the military seem to have in its ability to get anything done, let alone space war stuff. “The chasm between what our warfighting space commanders will need to win the space war, and the capabilities that we intend to develop and deploy, continues to grow,” former Assistant Secretary of Defense Douglas Loverro told the committee. He added, however, that if the military worked more closely with commercial space companies like SpaceX and OneWeb, the U.S. “could dramatically hasten the pace and power” of its military when it comes to fighting in space.

“In my view, we should move quickly to create a rapid acquisition process for space [technology],” said former Air Force General Robert Kehler made a similar suggestion when he addressed the committee.

To that end, Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank proposed that the government create “something akin to a working capital fund for space innovation,” which would allow the military to “leverage the technology, systems, and services created by [commercial space companies] when possible.”

After taking all of this in, the only thing I can think about is how Elon Musk is gonna be even more insufferable if he ends up creating a private space army and renting it out to the government.