Space Force Posture for FY '26

Importance of Space

Never before has space been more critical to the nation's future. Satellites are essential for:

  • Economic prosperity: Enabling transportation, communication, agriculture, and finance.
  • National security: Forming the backbone of the joint force.

Contributions of the US Space Force

The US Space Force provides crucial capabilities, including:

  • GPS for force maneuverability.
  • Satellite communications for global command and control (C2C2).
  • Constant vigilance via missile launch and adversary action detection.

Resource Allocation

The Space Force operates with approximately 3% of the Department of Defense (DOD) budget and less than 1% of the personnel, offering a great value proposition.

Disconnect Between Value and Investment

Despite increasing threats and the importance of space, the Space Force has experienced shrinking resources, creating risk.

New Responsibilities and Missions

The Space Force has been tasked with new missions, forcing choices between delayed readiness, reduced capacity, and unaddressed vulnerabilities. Examples of these missions include:

  • Ground and air moving target indications.
  • New space control capabilities.
  • Modeling and simulation.
  • Force design analytics.
  • A threefold increase in launch tempo at national space ports.
  • New advanced training requirements.
  • Space-based technology associated with the Golden Dome program, which relies heavily on Space Force sensors, data fusion, and communication capabilities.

These new mission areas require new and stable resources over time to deliver.

Defending the Homeland

Defending the homeland requires defending the satellites that make that defense possible. This involves:

  • Controlling the space domain.
  • Protecting our capabilities in space.
  • Denying adversaries the ability to use space against us.

Priorities

The priorities of the Space Force are:

  • Building comprehensive domain awareness through investments in additional sensors, data fusion capabilities, and networks.
  • Deploying resilient mission architectures through proliferated constellations, launch infrastructure, and protective measures for satellites and networks.
  • Developing the capacity to hold an adversary's space assets at risk through investments in counter-space systems.

FY '26 Posture

With the support of the committee, the Space Force aims to hold the line and advance the national advantage in space.

Numerical Data.

  • The speaker mentions that the Space Force operates with approximately 3%3\% of the Department of Defense (DOD) budget.
  • The speaker mentions that the Space Force operates with less than 1%1\% of the personnel.
  • The speaker mentions a threefold increase in launch tempo at national space ports.