08/18/2026

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Space-based tracking, missile warning drive budget growth

A new analysis of the Trump administration’s fiscal 2027 defense budget finds that the proposed surge in Space Force spending is concentrated in missions like moving-target tracking, missile warning, command and control, as well as in classified programs.

The report, written by Aerospace Corp. analyst Robert Wilson, finds that more than three-quarters of the proposed increase is concentrated in these mission areas. With a proposed 120 percent increase, “you might expect that every capability area, every mission area that they support would grow,” he told SpaceNews. “And that's not what you see with this request.”

Instead, he said, “There's a clear vision for how they want to use space in this year's request. It's not just ‘let's make every program healthy.’”

At the top of the list is space-based air-moving target indication, or AMTI, a new mission aimed at tracking aircraft from orbit. At $7.9 billion, it is the largest unclassified Space Force program in the request. The Space Data Network, a planned low Earth orbit mesh network for moving military data, ranks second.

Both programs were launched under Golden Dome in fiscal 2026 but are categorized as “Space Superiority” programs in the 2027 request.

Satellite-based missile warning and tracking are also big winners. The Space Force is seeking $3.6 billion for its low Earth orbit missile-warning and tracking constellation, up $1.9 billion, while a companion medium Earth orbit system would receive $1.4 billion, more than twice its 2026 funding. Wilson said the steady growth of missile warning and tracking has been one of the clearest trends in military space budgets over the past five years.

The big caveat

Whether the Space Force actually gets its proposed $71.3 billion remains uncertain. The base request is $59.2 billion, with another $12.1 billion dependent on Congress passing a reconciliation package.

But Wilson points to one number that suggests the buildup isn't intended to be temporary: The White House projects roughly $69.6 billion for the Space Force in fiscal 2028 without another reconciliation package.

“I think that's telling kind of how the White House and how the Pentagon are viewing space,” he said.

Congress is also showing considerable support for increased space spending. The House Appropriations Committee has backed about 94 percent of the administration’s base Space Force request, even as the fate of reconciliation remains unresolved. As Wilson put it, there is “absolutely a risk for this year,” but lawmakers are still planning for much of the proposed increase.

Missile Defense Agency shifts focus to Golden Dome

The Missile Defense Agency is preparing to hand off mature weapons programs to the military services so it can concentrate more heavily on next-generation missile-defense technologies that could feed into Golden Dome, agency director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins said last week.

Speaking at the closing session of the Space & Missile Defense Symposium, Collins said MDA is transitioning programs that are already deep into production and sustainment, including THAAD, which is expected to move to the Army soon, and the Aegis Combat System and Standard Missile-3, which are slated to transition to the Navy next year. The agency also is continuing the transfer of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor program to the Space Force.

The moves are intended to give MDA more capacity to focus on emerging technologies and development programs,

Collins said Gen. Michael Guetlein, who leads Golden Dome, has designated MDA as the system-of-systems engineering, integration and test lead for the architecture.

Other news from the Space & Missile Defense Symposium:

SPACE COMMAND’S NEW WISH LIST — Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, laid out five priorities for fiscal 2029 through 2033, describing the list as a “clear demand signal” to the military services and industry. At the top are “integrated space fires” — kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities for fighting in space — and systems capable of countering the large proliferated low-Earth-orbit constellations China and other adversaries are beginning to deploy. Whiting also called for better integrated space command-and-control, space-domain-awareness systems capable of producing targeting-quality tracks and sustained maneuver that would allow military satellites to move more freely instead of trying to conserve fuel.

GOLDEN DOME’S SPACE LAYER CLEARS AN EARLY HURDLE — Golden Dome chief Gen. Michael Guetlein said all 12 companies participating in the Space Force’s competition to develop space-based interceptors have cleared the first of four development gates. The group includes established defense contractors as well as SpaceX, Anduril, True Anomaly, Turion Space and other newer entrants. The first gate focused on designs and component-level work. Subsequent stages get progressively harder, moving toward flight hardware, orbital demonstrations and integration into the larger missile defense architecture.

Guetlein also warned that Golden Dome’s budget could soon become a limiting factor. The Pentagon is seeking roughly $17.5 billion for Golden Dome in fiscal 2027, but less than $400 million is included in the regular base budget. Guetlein warned that without additional congressional funding, work could largely stop when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

SPACE MANUFACTURING MEETS THE MUNITIONS CRUNCH — Manufacturing companies with roots in the commercial-space boom are pitching the Pentagon on applying the same automation, robotics and software-driven production methods to missiles and munitions. Machina is among the companies pursuing that market as the Pentagon tries to replenish weapons inventories and increase production rates. At SMD, the company displayed a roughly 16-foot hypersonic-vehicle fuselage produced for rocket-engine maker Ursa Major. Machina also has received a Lockheed Martin qualification contract related to assemblies for the JASSM cruise missile.

AND SPACECOM IS ACTUALLY MOVING — Whiting also provided one of the clearest updates yet on Space Command’s relocation from Colorado Springs to Redstone Arsenal. The command now has 113 personnel working in Huntsville and expects to reach 200 by the end of this year. More than half of headquarters personnel are expected at Redstone by the end of 2028, with the permanent headquarters projected for completion in 2031 and the full move targeted for 2032.

Electronic warfare gets larger role in space operations

Electromagnetic warfare is taking on a larger role in Space Force operations as recent conflicts have shown that control of the radio-frequency spectrum can shape military campaigns without firing a weapon in orbit.

Combat Forces Command said Aug. 13 that it has validated a faster way to deploy the Remote Modular Terminal, a compact satellite jammer that can temporarily disrupt an adversary’s satellite links. A new packaging setup cuts the system’s airlift requirements in half, allowing the military to move the terminals more quickly to locations around the world.

The terminals have not completed testing but are already in a “limited use” phase that allows combatant commands to employ them operationally. The Space Force describes RMT as a complement to Meadowlands, its larger, trailer-mounted satellite jammer.

During Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran last year, Space Force personnel created what the service called a “silence zone” that disrupted adversary communications as U.S. bombers entered and left the target area.

The service is organizing its forces accordingly. Combat Forces Command announced Aug. 14 that it had activated the 1st Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron, the first Mission Delta 3 unit to operate Meadowlands and Bounty Hunter, a system used to detect and locate electromagnetic interference. The squadron is distributed across five operating locations and is staffed largely by former Air National Guard personnel who transferred into the Space Force.

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