Space Force sends Congress $1 billion list of unfunded projects

2024.03.22 3 min read

The Space Force asked Congress for more than $1 billion for a largely classified slate of high-priority efforts it didn’t include in its fiscal 2025 budget request.

The list, obtained by C4ISRNET, includes $846 million in classified projects. The remaining $305 million is largely focused on improving the resiliency of Space Force systems and training capabilities.

The military services and combatant commands send Congress a similar document each year, detailing programs they want to fund but that weren’t included in the annual budget request.

The unclassified efforts included on the Space Force’s list reflects its focus on making its satellites and ground systems resilient against adversary threats. In recent years, the service has started to shift toward building smaller satellites in large quantities across key mission areas like missile warning and communications.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who provides civilian oversight for the Space Force, said that while the service’s $29.4 billion FY25 funding request is sufficient to continue those efforts, it won’t allow it to move as quickly as he would like in other missions, like positioning, navigation and timing and its mostly classified counterspace portfolio.

“We need to find a way to have PNT be more resilient, and I think there are some additional communications things that we need to do,” he told reporters March 8.

Among the unfunded projects is a request for $159 million to establish a fund to procure commercial satellite communications. Another $9 million would support an effort to improve the power supply at certain facilities that operate wideband SATCOM systems.

The list includes $42.5 million for the Space Development Agency’s fleet of demonstration and experimentation satellites. Without additional funding, the program would likely be delayed, the service said.

The service also asks for $60 million for an effort to improve energy efficiency at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado and $19 million for the National Space Test and Training Complex, increasing the number of wargames the service conducts each year.

An additional $59 million in FY25 would allow the service to conduct up to two more Rocket Systems Launch Program missions, which support science and technology efforts across the Space Force, National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and the Missile Defense Agency.

“Restoring RSLP is not just a matter of maintaining ongoing projects, but is critical for progressing towards the goals set forth by the [National Defense Strategy] to innovate and ensure security in space,” the service said.

C4ISRNet