WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force will operate with $28.7 billion in funding for fiscal year 2025, $800 million less than its requested budget of $29.5 billion, according to the full-year continuing resolution (CR) spending bill passed by Congress last week.
The funding details were released by Republican lawmakers as part of “congressional intent” guidelines for the Department of Defense’s $892.5 billion allocation within the CR, which runs through September 30, 2025.
Congress averted a government shutdown by passing the full-year CR in the absence of regular appropriations bills, which would have allowed for more strategic funding adjustments across federal agencies.
Unlike traditional CRs, which typically maintain prior-year funding levels with minimal adjustments, the fiscal year 2025 resolution grants the Pentagon flexibility to reprogram up to $8 billion and initiate select new programs, providing some relief from the rigid constraints that typically characterize stopgap funding measures.
Satellite program shifts
Among the specific reallocations, the Space Force received authorization to transfer $30 million from the Protected Tactical Satellite (PTS) program to fund a new procurement of Resilient GPS (R-GPS) satellites. This new initiative aims to supplement the existing GPS constellation with smaller, more cost-effective satellites.
The PTS program, which focuses on developing next-generation anti-jamming communications satellites, saw its funding reduced from $597 million to $420 million.
Future budget planning underway
Even as the Space Force works through its fiscal 2025 budget under the CR, the service is engaged in broader budget realignment efforts for fiscal year 2026. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed an 8% internal reallocation of the DoD budget, compelling each branch to identify potential funding cuts and areas for reinvestment.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman confirmed on March 20 that the Space Force has submitted its proposed funding reallocations to the Pentagon, aligning with the new administration’s priorities.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the secretary, but I think the fairest way to characterize it is we looked at what our lowest priorities were, and we offered those up so that the secretary could reprioritize based on the priorities that this new administration has,” Saltzman said during a Defense One webcast interview.
Hegseth has emphasized warfighting activities as the Pentagon’s top priority, a directive that Saltzman indicated is in line with the Space Force’s mission. “I think in the end, what you’ll see is that because our priorities were so focused on warfighting, so focused on the new emerging threats that everybody is coming to the realization that we have to address, that we were pretty well aligned with the new administration’s priorities,” Saltzman added. “And so I think the Space Force is going to be in a good spot.”
Broader defense cuts
The budget shifts come amid broader Pentagon spending reviews. Hegseth on March 20 announced the termination of $580 million in programs deemed wasteful, including software contracts for human resources management, grants related to diversity initiatives, climate change research, social science, COVID-19 pandemic response, and external consulting services.
