> "If established, it would be organized as a military service branch within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense." [1]
So yes, any new military service branch is going to have overhead. But the Air Force already provides the structure and overhead for the space initiatives
The Space Force is more about formalizing (and potentially funding) this branch of the AF separately from the main budget of the AF. There will still be a little additional overhead, but not really like you're implying.
Another perspective— that "little bit of overhead" for starting up the Space Force is almost as large as NASA's annual budget. At least that's if you believe the budget numbers from Heather Wilson (outgoing secretary of the Air Force). Unfortunately, I doubt that standing up a new military service is something that the government would actually be able to accomplish without going over budget.
So yes, any new military service branch is going to have overhead. But the Air Force already provides the structure and overhead for the space initiatives
The Space Force is more about formalizing (and potentially funding) this branch of the AF separately from the main budget of the AF. There will still be a little additional overhead, but not really like you're implying.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Force