Written by Shawn Barnes
Given the unsustainable national debt and annual budget deficit, Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s call for deep budget cuts is warranted. None of our nation’s six military branches or any of its multiple defense agencies should be spared. Rather, the DoD must seize the moment to terminate underperforming, less relevant acquisition programs and strategically realign resources to address the nation’s most pressing concerns.
To address immediate threats and operational needs, the Secretary of Defense should direct realignment of DoD dollars to the Space Force to fully fund the space capabilities necessary to achieve the President’s goals. This includes robust and resilient missile warning and missile defense, nuclear command and control, terrestrial battle management, tactical intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, tracking (ISR&T), position, navigation, timing (PNT), responsive launch, space domain awareness, and, most importantly, offensive and defensive space control capabilities.
Gen. Saltzman, the Chief of Space Operations, recently highlighted the need for space control. “We must be ready to contest and control our domain. To overcome threats and outwit a thinking opponent. Space Superiority is the reason that we exist as a service… Historically, we have avoided talking too much about Space Control … but why would you have a military space service if not to execute Space Control? If we’re going to truly embrace our status as space warfighters, then we need to also embrace our fundamental responsibility for Space Control.” Consistent with these statements, Space Control is General Saltzman’s top priority. “And it’s my number one priority whenever I speak to executive and legislative leaders because we currently don’t have the resources to perform it as effectively as the joint force requires.”
To address emerging threats and operational needs, the Space Force will need to grow to approximately 7-10% of the DoD budget. As the nation’s commercial space endeavors become increasingly important to our economic vitality, the need to monitor and protect the domain from adversary interference grows. The future of commerce within the space domain is extraordinarily bright. In addition to the explosive growth of earth sensing and communication, future commercial capabilities are expected to include pharmaceutical and microelectronics manufacturing, rare mineral mining, and electricity generation. Permanent human colonies are planned for the Moon and Mars. Just as the U.S. Navy protects our vital sea lines of communication, so too must the U.S. Space Force protect the space domain, along with its growing commerce and human presence.
The Space Force Association supports the Administration’s review of all government spending and efforts to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse. Additionally, the Space Force Association supports fundamental acquisition reform to ensure that our next-generation space capabilities can be developed, procured, and fielded in a manner that respects the taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars. Finally, the Space Force Association supports a Space Force that our nation needs – one that can deter conflict, support the terrestrial warfighter, defeat the adversary in and out of space, and protect vital space-based commerce and human presence.
