Raytheon is the newest contractor tapped by the Space Development Agency to build missile warning/tracking satellites in low Earth orbit. (Raytheon Technologies)
WASHINGTON — The Space Force is requesting another big budget boost for fiscal 2024, for a total of $30 billion — about $3.9 billion more than Congress enacted in the FY23 appropriations bill and some $5.5 billion more than last year’s request.
That roughly 12 percent increase is primarily driven by investments in research and development, with missile warning/tracking programs and the Space Development Agency the big winners.
The service’s focus on developing next-generation technologies reflects the overarching concern of Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall about staying ahead of China, which is modernizing across its arsenal but in particular its space capabilities.
“The threat is racing to out pace us,” he told reporters in a budget pre-briefing on March 10.
The FY24 research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funding request of $19.2 billion represents a whopping 64 percent jump from last year’s appropriation, which at $16.6 billion also represented a boost from the service’s $15.8 billion FY23 request.
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The request for procurement also is higher than the amount enacted by Congress last year, just not as dramatically. The total Space Force procurement request for FY24 is set at $4.7 billion, about a 15 percent rise. The request for operations and maintenance also rose, by about 17 percent, from last year’s appropriation, to $4.9 billion.
Kendall acknowledged that the large investments of today will create a budgetary bow wave in the future, one that the new service may not be able to support financially — something congressional appropriators scolded the Space Force about when reviewing last year’s budget request — but argued that the threat requires investment now in new capabilities.
“In the budget year, but also in the five-year plan that we’ll submit, we have reasonable costs associated with and projections associated with what we want to do in that time period. Where I think there’s some uncertainties is about what follows the research and development,” he said.
“We’re essentially buying options for programs that we’ll want to put into production and build at scale and at quantity in the future. That’s true in space. That’s true for the Air Force also,” Kendall explained. “If we don’t make those investments, we won’t have the options even to consider doing those things. And this is all threat driven. As I talked about earlier, the entirety of what we’re trying to do here, to get to the next-generation capabilities, has been driven mostly by the pacing challenge of the PRC.”
In particular, Kendall said, the Space Force is moving further along in this request towards a more resilient, dispersed space architecture that includes satellites in multiple orbits, as well as the use of commercial systems.
“We’re not waiting for anything. That was already started before this [budget request], and it will continue,” he said.
Kendall noted that some small constellations comprises handfuls of large satellites with exquisite capabilities will continue to be funded as “risk mitigation” as the Space Force transitions to the the new architecture. He further added that the service is still “sorting out” what the future will look like for some of the satellite communications systems as well as the Global Positioning System, which currently has 31 satellites — 24 active, the rest spares — in medium Earth orbit (MEO).
That said, Kendall stressed that resilient space architectures are imperative. “There’s no choice about it,” he said.
Focus On RDT&E
One of the biggest chunks of the FY24 funding increase is focused on the Space Force’s two “resilient” missile warning/tracking programs: The SDA’s Tracking Layer of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), and the new set of satellites in MEO being planned by Space Systems Command. Together the programs are budgeted at $2.3 billion, a $1.1 billion increase from last year’s appropriation.
Interestingly, however, the RDT&E budget for the biggest Space Force missile warning effort, the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) constellation in geosynchronous and polar orbits, sees a slight drop in the FY24 request. The service has asked for $2.6 billion, vice the $3.4 billion enacted last year.
“We’re trying to find amphibious ships going to Taiwan, we’re not trying to read license plates for our mission, right? So we can go to much less stressing capabilities. And do that with more proliferative, more affordable architectures that are also more resilient,” Kendall explained.
Separately, the budget request for SDA’s Tranche 1 Tracking Layer of data relay satellites in LEO also would rise substantially under the FY24 request, up $1.1 billion from last year’s appropriation of $1 billion to $2.1 billion. The agency currently plans on launching 21 Tranche 1 Tracking Layer birds in 2025.
The RDT&E request also would slate more money this year for two of the Space Force’s satellite communications programs.
The service asked for about $600 million for the Evolved Strategic SATCOM program to replace the aging Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites for encrypted national security communications, a little more than $100 million more than appropriated in FY23.
Likewise the request would increase funding about $100 million from last year’s appropriated level of $400 million for the Protected Tactical SATCOM program to build a more robust network for troops on the ground, in the air and at sea — with the funds slated for development of two prototype payloads.
Procurement: An Increase In Launches Planned
The Space Force is planning to launch 15 satellites in FY24, up from 10 planned for this fiscal year. Five of the launches, budgeted at $529 million are for SDA; the other 10 will be under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, for which the service has requested $2.1 billion.
“On the Space Force side, it’s all about launch,” Maj. Gen. Michael Greiner, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for budget, said during the briefing.
The FY24 request for the SDA launches is some $200 million less than appropriated last year (Congress added some $500 million to the Space Force’s original request of $314 million). The NSSL request, however, shows a $1.1 billion increase from last year’s appropriation of $1 billion.
The FY24 request also includes $147 million in procurement money for “Force Element Terminals” called the Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Site Terminals (FAB-T). The program is a new start for low-rate initial production of 23 terminals, which are to be integrated with the B-52 bomber fleet, explained Greiner.
Lastly, the Air Force’s top line budget includes $44.2 billion in what the department calls “non-blue pass-through” funds, which are slated for the space operations of the Intelligence Community. The bulk of that funding goes to the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the nation’s spy satellites. The department’s FY23 budget request included $40.2 billion for the pass-through.
