| 05/06/2025 | | National security insights for space professionals. Delivered Tuesdays. | | Welcome to this week's edition of SpaceNews Military Space, your source for the latest developments at the intersection of space and national security.
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|  | | | Space & defense brief 🛰️
| President's 'skinny' budget for 2026 lands with a thud on the Hill
The White House dropped its 2026 "skinny" budget on Friday, and it's already facing bipartisan heat for freezing base defense spending and slashing non-defense programs — while banking on an unpassed GOP reconciliation bill to fill in the gaps.
The proposal, released by the Office of Management and Budget, keeps discretionary defense spending flat at $892.6 billion — the same as FY2025 — and proposes a 13% increase only if Congress passes the Republican-led $150 billion defense reconciliation bill. That $113.3 billion boost would push defense totals over the $1 trillion mark that President Trump has publicly championed. But that's still theoretical, and lawmakers aren't pleased.
Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) blasted the plan, accusing the administration of undermining Trump's national security promises. "OMB is not requesting a trillion-dollar budget. It is requesting a budget of $892.6 billion," Wicker said in a sharp statement.
House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) echoed the criticism, warning that the budget "does not reflect a realistic path" to meeting Trump's "Peace Through Strength" goal — including his call for U.S. defense spending to hit 5% of GDP.
Meanwhile, the administration is drawing fire from both political parties for steep proposed cuts to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) in a statement noted the late arrival of the budget and flagged "serious objections" to its treatment of defense and biomedical research.
"This is simply one step in the annual budget process," Collins said. "Ultimately, it is Congress that holds the power of the purse."
|  | | | No funding details for military space
The 2026 skinny budget offers no details on funding for military space programs or the U.S. Space Force or the other branches of the military.
Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, the Space Force's deputy chief for strategy and plans, struck a wry tone when asked about the 2026 budget. "We're filled with hope, which is a terrible thing if you're the budget guy, because your dreams are always crushed," he said last week at the State of the Space Industrial Base Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
These comments come amid concerns that the Space Force is being asked to do more with less. Gen. Chance Saltzman, the service's top officer, has warned that funding is not keeping pace with mission demands. "Even if you don't account for inflationary adjustments, we're still shrinking in real dollars, and so it is a concern," Saltzman said in March. "I'm worried that we're not going to be able to keep pace, certainly the way we want to," he added, citing threats from China and Russia's anti-satellite weapons.
The full-year continuing resolution for FY2025 funded the Space Force at $28.7 billion — $800 million below the service's request, and $300 million less than its FY2024 budget. With no clarity yet on 2026 numbers, senior officials appear to be bracing for another tight year. | | |  | | |
| | Defense dollars fuel space spending surge
Government space spending worldwide soared to $135 billion in 2024 — a 10% jump from last year — driven largely by rising defense budgets, according to Novaspace's Government Space Programs report.
Defense now accounts for 54% of total public space investments, or $73 billion, marking a shift as more countries treat space as a critical arena for national security. -
The trend reflects a growing push to secure strategic autonomy in orbit, alongside traditional domains like air, sea, and cyberspace. -
The U.S. remains the top spender, but its dominance is slipping. America's share of global government space investment has dropped to 59%, down from more than 75% in 2000, as China and others ramp up spending. -
The report highlights a sharp uptick in funding for military satellite systems — covering everything from early warning to navigation and Earth observation — as more governments stand up dedicated space forces.
| | |  | | | In other news 🚀 | | Amazon's satellite internet company, Project Kuiper, has partnered with defense contractor L3Harris Technologies to shape satellite payloads that meet the standards of military and public safety users.
The Project Kuiper full constellation — planned to exceed 3,200 low Earth orbit satellites — is still far from completion. But despite it being in its early deployment phase, L3Harris' president of communication systems Sam Mehta said the company sees key advantages in partnering at this stage of development.
"We can actually get in on the ground floor and help influence some of the requirements since they're at the beginning of their launch cycle," Mehta said.
| | | | Ursa Major Technologies has secured a $28.5 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to conduct the first flight test of its Draper engine, a storable, high-performance propulsion system tailored for hypersonic missile applications.
The contract covers both the flight demonstration and integration of the engine into a test vehicle. The project aims to advance U.S. capabilities in hypersonic weapons, a category of defense systems that has become a top Pentagon priority amid competition with China and Russia.
| | |  | | | | The U.S. Space Force selected 12 companies for a 10-year, $237 million contract to develop and deploy small satellites under a new procurement initiative aimed at advancing military space technology through commercial innovation.
The agreement, known as the Space Test Experiments Platform (STEP) 2.0, is part of the Department of Defense's broader Space Test Program (STP).
STEP 2.0 is designed to modernize the government's ability to test and evaluate new space-based systems by tapping into the commercial small satellite market.
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