Space Force guardians march during a graduation ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2025. The Pentagon’s 2027 budget plan aims to add 2,800 Guardians to the service, for a total 13,200 active-duty end strength. (Jonathan Mallard/U.S. Air Force )
The Space Force’s budget would balloon to $71.2 billion under a spending plan unveiled Tuesday that seeks to double spending on space capabilities as the domain becomes increasingly contested and vital to national security.
The bulk of the proposal — $59 billion — will be sought through the regular appropriations process, and $12 billion would come from a possible reconciliation bill in Congress that would allow Republicans to tack on additional funding for the military without Democratic votes.
The influx of money for the Space Force, the military’s youngest and smallest branch, comes amid a race with China for space supremacy and a push by the Trump administration to build up missile defense systems based in orbit. The service’s budget request in fiscal 2026 was $40 billion.
“The proposed budget represents a generational opportunity to position the Space Force to win against the growing threats and demands our nation faces today and tomorrow,” Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said in a statement.
Boosting the size of the force is a key objective. The budget plan aims to add 2,800 Guardians to the service, for a total active-duty end strength of 13,200. Hiring will target people with expertise in the space, intelligence, cyber and acquisition career fields, said Maj. Gen. Frank Verdugo, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force’s budget.
The Space Force saw hundreds of civilian employees who worked in acquisitions leave during last year’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce. Their loss, as well as bottlenecks in the defense industrial base, have raised questions about whether the service will be able to spend its windfall.
“We are asking to double the Space Force’s budget in fiscal 2027,” said Air Force Secretary Troy Meink during the annual Space Symposium earlier this month. “We owe it to the taxpayers and our future generations to effectively execute every dollar of that increase, and it will be a big challenge.”
The base budget calls for spending $38.4 billion on research and development, $9.6 billion on procurement, $9.1 billion on operations and maintenance, and $1.8 billion on personnel. The request includes:
$21.6 billion for investments in space control systems.
$6.8 billion for missile warning and tracking architecture — the “eye in the sky” needed to track enemy missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles from launch to impact, according to Verdugo.
$6.7 billion for satellite communications to ensure the military is connected in any environment.
$2.9 billion for 22 national security space launches.
$500 million for cyber warfare operations to safeguard satellites and networks.
