Space Force lobbies for $1 billion extra
The Space Force has put forth an extra wish list of missions/projects that require an $1 billion more above the $15 billion the agency has already requested in the next federal budget for 2021.
While about 10 percent of the request is for classified programs, the remaining funding runs the gamut, from bolstering space situational awareness to accelerating the development of navigational satellites to establishing new commercial satellite communication capabilities in low earth orbit.
Overall this wish list appears properly focused, aimed at upgrading or improving existing space military assets rather than growing the Space Force’s bureaucracy. We shall see over time if this proves true. I can’t help having doubts.
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The Space Force has put forth an extra wish list of missions/projects that require an $1 billion more above the $15 billion the agency has already requested in the next federal budget for 2021.
While about 10 percent of the request is for classified programs, the remaining funding runs the gamut, from bolstering space situational awareness to accelerating the development of navigational satellites to establishing new commercial satellite communication capabilities in low earth orbit.
Overall this wish list appears properly focused, aimed at upgrading or improving existing space military assets rather than growing the Space Force’s bureaucracy. We shall see over time if this proves true. I can’t help having doubts.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Remember that while this has the *name* of “Space Force” on it, the past history of these programs is all USAF. Until Congress allows other volunteers from other Services than the AF to provide personnel for Space Force (and Space Force’s own February Report to Congress talked about it only for Fiscal Year 2022) this is the same people, with a culture that is too slowly changing from AF to SF. Why????
Congress wants to know that the deals their committee members struck during previous years for procurement contracts are going to be in the heads of the people from SF they keep talking to while those previous deals are played out. Desired changes in Space Force in procurement are exactly those that Congress members do*not* want interfering with what they have told their corporate vassals in the past. Congress wants change that doesn’t affect their ability to express *their* agency costs from the top of the funding hierarchy on down.
Tom,
It is my understanding the problem you suggest is why USSF was created in the first place.
Congress allocated money to USAF, with the intent for certain dollar amounts to Space Command (as it existed previously as a USAF command). USAF would say they need X number of dollars, but then at some point, the USAF bean counters moved some money around for.. other things. As a result, officers in Space Command complained that they never got the money they needed.
Now, technically as a separate service, funding designated for it should be harder (tho not impossible) to shift around. It provides some better protection.
For example, the USMC has the ability to accept bids and acquire equipment on its own, even though they are subsidiary of the Navy. They still have to get the stamp of approval from the CNO, et al, but they have their own means. This is the model that is hoped for USSF.
I went look to see if Title 10 has been updated yet on the US House site. I am guessing the details are still being hammered out.
As for the additional billion, I think they know they need to be careful for a few years. Being the new kid on the block, and being under a microscope, they know they need to spend carefully. Wait for them to be established for a few years. Then the bureaucracy will bloom.
Side note: I have a few friends who are current or retired USAF. They think this was a positive move in general, but when they hear “Space Force” they roll their eyes, saying it sounds cartoonish. They wished they would have put more thought into a better name. Even Space Guard (similar to Coast Guard) would have been mildly better.
The Space Guard is a totally different concept. It is a pretty good one. I think we need a Space Force and a Space Guard. I’d have preferred to see a Space Guard first. It is more of a constabulary concept that would help us expand our influence while taking on some important protective, but not explicitly military, roles.
Wodun
You said “The Space Guard is a totally different concept”.
Elaborate please. I am not sure what your referring to, unless you are trying to draw a direct analogy to USCG’s law enforcement roles.