{"id":10188,"date":"2026-04-22T04:31:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/space-force-scrambles-to-repair-workforce-as-massive-budget-increase-looms\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:31:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:31:04","slug":"space-force-scrambles-to-repair-workforce-as-massive-budget-increase-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/space-force-scrambles-to-repair-workforce-as-massive-budget-increase-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force scrambles to repair workforce as massive budget increase looms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Trump administration, which last year stripped the Space Force of 14 percent of its civilian workers, now wants the service to handle a budget more than twice as large.<\/p>\n

The service\u2019s 2027 budget request of $71.1 billion\u2014way up from the $31.6 billion allocated in the current fiscal year\u2014includes boosts for new space-based technologies and weapons in line with President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cspace superiority\u201d executive order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The administration official who is temporarily handling the duties of the Pentagon\u2019s chief financial officer conceded that it\u2019s a tall order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the major challenges for this budget is to be able to obligate dollars in a timely manner, because it’s such a large increase,\u201d said Jules W. Hurst III, who is performing the duties of the Under Secretary of War (Comptroller)\/Chief Financial Officer.<\/p>\n

But Hurst, a former Ranger-turned-legislative aide for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R.-La., downplayed the effects of the hastily implemented workforce cuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven’t been taking away workforce from areas that are involved in critical efforts like the [Defense Autonomous Working Group] or, you know, space acquisition, which is where a lot of this money goes,\u201d he said in a Tuesday press briefing at the Pentagon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In fact, Space Systems Command\u2014the branch\u2019s acquisitions arm\u2014lost about 10 percent of its workforce in the wake of policies ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.<\/p>\n

Service officials were already talking about the impending acquisition\u00a0crunch last fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a looming increase in acquisitions coming down the pike, and so that presents us with a really difficult situation of where we need to double down on our acquisition workforce, our acquisition training. We are in a situation where we barely have enough acquirers to do all of the work that we have now,\u201d Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, acting assistant Air Force secretary for space acquisition and integration, said Nov. 20 at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event.<\/p>\n

Now, the service is struggling to rehire people to fill the gaps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, who leads Space Systems Command, told reporters at the Space Symposium conference in Colorado last week that he’s faced with \u201ca really challenging goal\u201d to hire 100 civilians a month following the large number of departures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve never hired that many people in a month,\u201d said Garrant, who added that the most the command has hired in one month is 66 people. \u201cIt’s really to get the workforce in place to execute all this funding that’s coming our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garrant added that some of that has been \u201cbackfilling\u201d positions from the Deferred Resignation Program. Other roles can\u2019t be replaced because the service permanently lost those billets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of the $71 billion for the Space Force\u2019s 2027 budget request, about $38 billion is for research, development, testing and evaluation initiatives. Nearly $10 billion would be for procurement of new technologies.<\/p>\n

Space Force Lt. Gen Steven P. Whitney, the Joint Staff\u2019s director of force structure, resources and assessment, told reporters that the new request supports a wide range of initiatives tied to Trump\u2019s executive orders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whitney said it includes 31 national security space launches, $13 billion dollars to develop and field missile warning and tracking capabilities, development of two new GPS satellites and their supporting infrastructure, $5.9 billion for satellite communication systems, $7.7 billion for Airborne Moving Target Indication capabilities, and a $3.1 billion investment in the military\u2019s next-generation space data network, which is tied to Trump\u2019s sprawling Golden Dome missile defense program.\n\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n