Analysis of the U.S. Space Force’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget shows the service is taking a new approach to military satellite architectures. An analysis released June 6 by the Aerospace Corporation shows that the Space Force is now aggressively pursuing simpler and cheaper spacecraft networks, an influx of commercial satellites, and augmented satellites, unlike past practices that favored larger, more complex, and complex systems. Use of services provided by private space companies.

The service’s latest budget request aims to create more resilient space systems that can withstand and quickly recover from potential attacks in orbit, writes Sam Wilson, systems director at the Center for Aerospace Policy and Strategy.

Wilson details his $29.6 billion budget request for fiscal year 2025; this is slightly below the 2024 demand. Despite the limited gains, he said, the budget continues its emphasis on the Space Development Agency’s work to place widespread networks of smaller satellites in low-Earth orbit.

The 2025 budget request calls for a new Protected Tactical Satcom – Global (PTS-G) program to bridge the gap between highly specialized protected communications satellites and more commercial options. This approach to “distributed constellations of less complex satellites” is consistent with the Space Force’s broader desire to create a more distributed space capability, Wilson said.

We are changing the mindset of the Ministry of Defense

The budget also increases funding needed to integrate commercial satellite communications into military networks as the Space Force looks to use a broader range of providers and services, the report said. These commercial integration efforts complement the focus on distribution.

Looking ahead, the Space Force is signaling more changes, including developing a smaller, more cost-effective GPS satellite design and analyzing how commercial and new narrowband communications technologies could meet military needs.

“There has been a shift in the way the Department of Defense thinks about threats in space and how to protect space architectures,” and that is reflected in the budget proposal, Wilson says.

Space forces make up only 3.5% of the Department of Defense budget. Still, he adds, recent congressional reports and the bill’s text show “there’s a lot of focus on space.”

“There is a great deal of interest and awareness of how important the area is to the ministry,” says Wilson, “and there is also a great deal of emphasis on the need to preserve the area.” A budget “is a really good way to see how it actually works out.”