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AURORA, Colo.—For several years, Space Force leaders have been advocating for augmented financial resources and additional personnel to oversee its expanding array of duties and tasks. These responsibilities range from monitoring and confronting increasingly sophisticated missile dangers to bolstering a constantly rising need for space launch operations, all while functioning amidst an escalating perilous operational landscape.
After countless occasions articulating to legislators and defense officials the character of that peril, and highlighting the crucial function of space capabilities in preventing hostilities within the realm while empowering the broader collective military, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman informed reporters during AFA’s Warfare Symposium here that the core message seems to finally be resonating.
“I am no longer compelled to justify to any principal parties that the danger warrants grave consideration—that phase is behind us,” he stated Feb. 24. “They acknowledge the necessity for the Space Force to command the domain for our collective military’s triumph across all other operational spheres. Consequently, we have been quite effective in lobbying for an expansion of those assets.”
The Space Force secured an approximately $14 billion increase to its budget in fiscal 2026, which it will utilize to enhance current functionalities, like orbital reconnaissance and spatial understanding, as well as novel operations, such as satellite-based identification of moving objectives. Its total 2026 fiscal year budget is approximately $40 billion—surpassing its inaugural budget as an independent service by over twofold, when the White House sought $15 billion for the 2021 fiscal year.
Should present strategies persist, top officials assert, the 2027 fiscal year’s appeal is anticipated to be considerable. President Donald Trump has proposed a comprehensive defense appropriation of $1.5 trillion for 2027, although it remains uncertain whether that would manifest as a unified legislative act or be fragmented, as occurred last year when Congress first passed a budget reconciliation measure designated as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Numerous commentators ponder if the Department of Defense can effectively absorb a budgetary surge of roughly 50 percent within a single twelve-month period.
Space Force leaders do not concentrate on the overarching scale, however, but rather on their particular requirements. And they seem assured of receiving additional financial backing.
“We’ve experienced numerous increments, and we intend to persist in experiencing growth,” stated Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess, deputy head of spatial endeavors for operational matters.
Equipment, Facilities, and Personnel
While Schiess and others provided scant specifics, they did indicate an anticipation of increased financial provision for novel orbital platforms, fresh facilities, and staff to bolster crucial areas such as anti-missile systems, spatial domain comprehension, and aim acquisition.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, during an introductory address initiating the symposium Feb. 23, mentioned that “a significant impetus exists” within the Department of Defense to augment space capacities. Given that requirement, he added, “it is undeniable the Space Force will expand considerably.”
When asked which operations the department ought to prioritize, Meink responded without pause: “All of them.”
“The Air Force and the Ministry of Warfare view it as essential to integrate further space capabilities,” he said. “Analogous to air supremacy, spatial supremacy is requisite, along with all the various initiatives necessary for its attainment.”
Saltzman explained the Space Force is seeking to augment capacity in areas like evaluation and instruction facilities and orbital armament platforms in the 2027 fiscal year. Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of Space Systems Command, emphasized satellite-borne detection and MTI, along with prudent allocation of capital into manufacturing capability, as pivotal hurdles.
Presently, Garrant noted, the industrial sector falls short of the Space Force’s desired production volume. “Encouraging the manufacturers of these items to allocate capital, enabling us to procure greater quantities” is what he and others wish to witness.
“Manufacturing and expedited output, and persuading our industrial collaborators to finance enablement allowing us to subsequently commit funds to manufacturing, is a paramount objective for us,” Garrant told reporters.
The unified commander tasked with operations within the spatial domain, Gen. Stephen Whiting of U.S. Space Command, underscored an area he desired to witness Space Force capital allocation: novel capacities for orbital supply and replenishment. Regarding the forthcoming financial scheme, he stated he is “encouraged by the monetary sums being discussed for this appropriation.”
Personnel constitute another primary concern. The Space Force intends to intensify enlistment and sustainment endeavors, Saltzman said, and he and Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna say the service will eventually need to expand twofold to handle the collective military’s requisitions for spatial functionalities.
That means augmenting both uniformed and non-uniformed staff. Schiess said that while the service was conceived for efficiency and adaptability, the moment has arrived for expansion.
“We are integrating novel functionalities into existing frameworks, we are adopting advanced technologies—such as AI—to reduce the size of the human-operated contingent,” he said. “We have exceptional non-commissioned Guardians assuming greater duties. Nevertheless, it is still a human resource challenge.”
The service shed approximately 14 percent of its non-military staff when the national administration enforced compulsory reductions and postponed resignation and retirement schemes a year ago—measures that unduly impacted USSF’s procurement operations. Garrant, whose Space Systems Command is largely composed of non-military specialists, stated Feb. 25 he now has supplementary recruitment mandates to address the issue. His team is executing a human capital investment plan to enlist further procurement and contractual professionals.
Kelly Hammett, director of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, suggested he anticipates his division—and the broader service—might receive authorization to enlarge its procurement personnel. He characterized the Space Force’s 2027 fiscal year appeal as “extensive” and “quite favorable.”
“That’s greatly required for my operations,” he said. “I’ve advocated for that throughout my tenure here. We have requested annually, and all supplementary personnel allocations for the past four years have been directed towards operations. … However, I believe I will acquire more staff, which is beneficial, as they continue to assign me additional initiatives.”
Supplemental financial provision in 2027 would similarly assist the Space RCO in integrating a greater number of nascent technologies cultivated via the Air Force’s and Space Force’s AFWERX and SpaceWERX innovative branches into fresh and existing initiatives, he said.
Financial Disbursement
Rapidly incorporating such substantial financial backing—comprising the approximately $14 billion from the previous year’s budget reconciliation act—introduces difficulties. Expert personnel and skilled individuals are required to oversee novel initiatives and manage advanced systems.
Resolutions grow more intricate if the continuity of financial provisions in subsequent years, or if the funds represent a singular infusion, remains ambiguous. This was a principal concern regarding the funds obtained via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in the prior year. As per numerous accounts, the department intends to expend the whole of those funds within fiscal year 2026, a deviation from prior schemes that stipulated reserving $38 billion for 2027.
Meink said that while a consistent, foreseeable budget is preferable, similarly advantageous is immediate access to greater capital to boost output and pursue other critical objectives.
“We’ll utilize whatever resources are provided effectively,” he told reporters.
Garrant said implementing the reconciliation funds has presented “an immense prospect.” Overseeing that augmentation has strengthened SSC’s rapport with the Air Force and the department’s fiscal administration departments as well as additional key players within the Office of Management and Budget and Congress to guarantee judicious expenditure of funds.
“The mandate to present expenditure proposals and illustrate our capacity to competently and promptly disburse those monies, that’s represented a particularly strong directive from both the executive branch and the legislature,” he said. “It’s prompted us to refine our planning and adopt a truly sound methodology.”
With the service foreseeing still greater financial allocation in 2027, Garrant and SSC’s Deputy Commander Col. Andrew Menschner, said it will learn from those experiences and will persist in emphasizing the cultivation of its personnel to effectively oversee such expansion.
“We really do have to concentrate on enhancing our Guardians, both uniformed and civilian, to be able to implement the scope of initiatives directed towards Space Systems Command,” Menschner said. “I think a genuine chance exists to integrate not only the insights acquired, but also some of the fresh AI utilities we are introducing.”
Audio of this article is presented to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, commemorating and aiding our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Discover further details at afa.org