Department of Defense Budget Must Realign to Space-Based Threats

The United States Space Force requested $29.4 billion for Fiscal Year 2025, a two percent drop from the previous year. The final budget, however, has yet to be passed as the federal government operates under a continuing resolution. The Space Force was founded in response to the actions of near-peer competitors in space that threaten the United States’ national and economic security. But now, any decline in funding, compounded by the inherent restrictions that come with continuing resolutions and even the Department of Defense's (DOD) traditional approach to building its budget, are compromising the very purpose for which the Space Force was founded.

In this episode of, “The Elara Edge: Expert Insights on Space Security,” Gen (Ret) John Hyten, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Senior Principal Advisor at Elara Nova: The Space Consultancy, and Lt Gen (Ret) Nina Armagno, the first Director of Staff at the United States Space Force and Executive Director of International Partnerships at Elara Nova, discuss the challenges and solutions to effectively resourcing the Space Force through the DOD budget. 

This episode follows an Opinion Editorial, co-written by Gen Hyten and Gen Armagno and recently published by SpaceNews, in which they argue the time is now for reallocating resources away from outdated legacy programs and toward the space-based threat. 

"The Elara Edge" is hosted by Scott King and produced by Regia Multimedia Services. The full story can be found on Elara Nova's Insights page here. Music was produced by Patrick Watkins of PW Audio.