By Shawn Barnes, Col, USAF (Ret.)
The Presidential Budget Request (PBR) was released last week. Some will cheer and some will jeer, but if the budget request is enacted as requested – or even close to it – the Space Force will be in a superb position to control the domain and support the Joint Force. The FY27 budget request of $71.24B is more double the FY26 enacted budget of $31.86B and approximately 450% larger than its initial budget in FY20. The magnitude of the requested budget signals to the space industry – including the primes, emerging primes, and relatively new entrants – that there is a robust demand for their innovative solutions.
Our Space Force is asked to tackle multiple challenges simultaneously. First, it must be able to control the domain. This requires insight into the space operations of others (Space Domain Awareness), space capabilities resilient to a rapidly emerging and evolving threat, the ability to defend capabilities from a variety of attacks, and an arsenal of systems capable of denying the adversary access to their own space systems.
As Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman has stated, the first responsibility of a military service is to control the domain in which they operate. Toward that end, the FY27 budget request increases the Space Domain Awareness research and development from $528M to $1.37B. It more than doubles the resilient MEO missile warning budget to $3.56B. And the classified research and development funding (potentially for offensive and defensive weapons) grows from $6.56B in FY26 to $17.33B in FY27.
Second, the Space Force must upgrade and replace existing weather, GPS, communications, and missile warning capabilities. To put these systems into orbit the budget request for launch services grows from $1.33B in FY26 to $4.2B in FY27. New satellite communication systems like the Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) SATCOM system include over $1.5B in new procurement funding. The LEO missile warning grows over 100% from $1.69B to $3.55B. To sustain the ground infrastructure for existing and future programs, the Space Force facilities budget increases from $570M to $1.79B, indicating a recognition that our aging ground support systems must be appropriately funded.
Third, our Space Force is taking on missions that heretofore have been accomplished by airborne platforms. Thankfully, funding for new missions is robust as well, with procurement for Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) increasing from $154M to $1.02B and new funding of $7B for Air Moving Target Indicator (AMTI). Fortunately, the budget request accounts for new manpower and increased training for our Guardians to accomplish these new missions. The Military Compensation budget increases from $1.53B to $1.82B and the Education and Training budget is more than 250% larger at $783M.
Last week’s news of a flat NASA budget request of $18.3B left many in the space industry wondering about their ability to survive in such a resource-constrained civil space program. Private investors signalled grave concerns that the President is not prioritizing space. The Space Force budget request should mitigate many of these concerns. While the missions of NASA and the Space Force are very different, both agencies seek to ensure our nation remains the preeminent space faring nation throughout the 21st century.
NASA’s Artemis program is a great step in the right direction. Because almost all space systems and technology hold potential for dual use, industry should posture to support the Space Force with an eye toward future civil and commercial capabilities. Advanced propulsion, nuclear power, in-space logistics and manufacturing, power beaming, and radiation shielding are all necessary for a robust space economy and a robust space force. Congress continues to support NASA with larger than requested budgets and we should expect this trend to continue. The Space Force budget request, however, will more than compensate for any change to the trajectory of our civil space program.
We should all be clear-eyed that the Space Force FY27 budget request is just that: a request to Congress for an appropriation. The request is complicated by the fact that it asks Congress to support a robust appropriation for discretionary spending as well as includes multiple billions of dollars for mandatory spending in another reconciliation bill. The request will certainly not be enacted exactly as requested;no Presidential Budget Request ever is. But the request provides an extraordinarily strong signal that the Administration recognizes the vital importance of space to our nation’s future.
Our adversaries – particularly China – would like nothing more than for congress to focus on a myriad of other priorities. The space industry and national security professionals, however, should urge congress to fund our Space Force program consistent with the level of funding requested in the FY27 Presidential Budget Request. Our future depends upon it.
Shawn Barnes is the Vice Chair of the Space Force Association Board of Directors and a Senior Advisor at The Artemis Group.
