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Budget uncertainty, civilian cuts impact Space Force procurements
U.S. Space Force procurement programs are bracing for a turbulent fiscal year amid funding constraints and mandated workforce reductions, warned Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy.
Purdy, the Space Force's acting senior acquisition executive, commented on the challenges ahead during a Washington Space Business Roundtable event last week, pointing to the disruptive effects of operating under a continuing resolution (CR) for fiscal year 2025 and looming reductions to the Department of Defense's (DoD) civilian workforce.
Congress on Friday passed a full-year CR to avert a government shutdown. A CR limits flexibility for new initiatives, Purdy said. The measure locks in funding at prior-year levels, with minor adjustments, rather than allowing for the strategic realignments typically afforded by regular appropriations bills. -
"Being funded by a CR is pretty devastating, to be honest with you," Purdy said, underscoring the service's reliance on fresh investments to keep pace with near-peer adversaries. -
Although the CR grants the DoD some leeway—including the authority to launch select new programs and shift up to $8 billion across accounts—Purdy cautioned that these stopgap measures fall short of what is needed. One key concern is the loss of congressional earmarks added during the appropriations process, which would otherwise direct funds to specific priorities. -
"When we're in a pretty critical state against competitors out there in other countries, we want to be able to have as much capability out the door as we can. We want to be able to leverage commercial as much as we can. And if we can't do that with speed and ability, then we've all kind of lost as a nation," Purdy said. Civilian workforce reductions looming
Beyond the budget constraints, Purdy also sounded the alarm on the potential fallout from civilian workforce reductions mandated by the Trump administration. The cuts, intended to streamline the DoD bureaucracy, could disproportionately affect contracting and acquisition activities, areas where the Space Force relies heavily on civilian expertise.
"If we end up losing a lot of civilians, that will be a problem on the acquisition side," Purdy said.
"If we're getting rid of the people, we need to get rid of the requirements that's driving a lot of work," he added, suggesting that without a corresponding reduction in workload, personnel losses could create bottlenecks in procurement and development efforts.
Seeking commercial alternatives to legacy systems
Purdy said the Space Force is officially exploring commercial alternatives to its bespoke military surveillance satellites in geostationary orbit, and directed program offices to assess how commercial solutions might replace or augment the military's Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites. -
The Space Force's existing GSSAP fleet, built by Northrop Grumman, operates near GEO—22,000 miles above Earth—conducting rendezvous and proximity operations to monitor critical military satellites. With the private sector's abilities evolving, Purdy sees an opportunity to leverage commercial investments for alternatives. -
That shift, however, comes with trade-offs. "We have to pull our heads out of the legacy, out of the old way of doing business," Purdy said, acknowledging that achieving 100% of military requirements may not always be feasible when using commercial tech. -
Space Systems Command has already received commercial proposals following a request for information issued last fall. The acquisition review isn't stopping at GEO surveillance. Purdy confirmed that similar evaluations will take place across other Space Force mission areas. He made clear that industry will have to deliver real capabilities, not just marketing pitches.
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| Defense officials call for streamlined command structure for Golden Dome
As the Pentagon moves forward with the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, officials are debating what governance structure can effectively coordinate the various defense and intelligence agencies involved.
Golden Dome, envisioned as a comprehensive defense system against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and aerial drones, has been compared in scale and ambition to the Manhattan Project.
Senior officials said Golden Dome will require a centralized authority with the power to make swift decisions — an approach that breaks from the Pentagon's traditionally bureaucratic, consensus-driven process. -
"Organizational behavior and culture are going to be our two biggest challenges," Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, told the Senate Armed Services Committee's readiness subcommittee last week. -
At a recent planning session, Guetlein said, the four-star Joint Requirements Oversight Council brought together key defense agencies, including the Missile Defense Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office, alongside combatant commanders and service representatives. -
"They were all present in that room talking about what it is going to take to get after something of this magnitude," Guetlein said. "That's how complex this capability is going to be. But it's not complex because the technology is going to be hard. It's complex because of the number of organizations and a number of agencies that need to be involved." The case for a single authority
Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, director of the Missile Defense Agency, reinforced this point earlier this month at the Air & Space Forces Association's Warfare Conference. -
"I do believe one execution agency needs to be put in charge," Collins said. "I think the committee structure that we tend to approach joint efforts with is very, very difficult and doesn't quite work." -
Collins warned that without a clear chain of command, acquisition timelines could be bogged down by the Pentagon's multilayered decision-making processes. "A single agency or service needs to have the authority to make the decisions for the entire system," he said. -
The Pentagon faces a tight deadline to deliver a recommendation to President Trump by the end of March. Beyond internal organization, Guetlein emphasized the need to engage the full breadth of the U.S. industrial base, including non-traditional defense contractors, to drive innovation. "We need to embrace the non-traditional contractors and get their ideas and capabilities on the table," he said.
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