Space Force on path to double active-duty force by 2030
The U.S. Space Force plans to add 2,800 active-duty personnel and 2,000 civilian employees in fiscal year 2027 as it looks to nearly double the size of the service by the end of the decade, the service's top officer told lawmakers this week.
Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said the personnel increase is intended to put the service on a path from roughly 10,000 active-duty Guardians today to about 20,000 by 2030.
The expansion comes as the Pentagon sharply increases spending on military space programs, including missile defense satellites, launch systems, cyber protection and communications networks.
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During Department of the Air Force posture hearings this week before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, lawmakers broadly backed the Space Force's proposed fiscal 2027 budget of about $71 billion, more than double the enacted 2026 level. Some legislators questioned whether the personnel buildup could move even faster.
Saltzman said the service's growth rate is constrained by training capacity and the pace at which new operational units can be established.
"We can't bring them all on at once, because our training pipeline has to be able to support that, and quite frankly, the squadrons that we need to stand up aren't ready yet," Saltzman told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"So it's about synchronizing it all over the next four or five years," he said.
Despite taking on responsibilities including missile warning, satellite operations, launch oversight and space domain awareness - the monitoring of objects and threats in orbit - the service has remained comparatively small.
Saltzman said growing mission demands are now forcing the service to expand more rapidly.
"The new missions that have been given to the Space Force are going to require something on the order of about 40 new squadrons," he said. "That represents an increase of about 2800 guardians and another 2,000 civilians, just to do the work of the new missions being added to address threats and continue to provide the support to the joint force."
Many of the new positions are expected to focus on technical specialties including cyber operations, engineering, intelligence, acquisitions and satellite operations.
Saltzman also tied the increase to the Space Force's growing emphasis on "space control," a term used to describe protecting U.S. satellites and countering adversary systems if necessary. The Pentagon's 2027 budget proposal includes large increases for missile-tracking satellite networks, military communications systems and launch infrastructure.
He said procurement growth alone would require the creation of 10 additional program offices to oversee acquisitions and deliver new systems into operation.
The civilian hiring push comes after the service lost nearly 14% of its civilian workforce in 2025 during Pentagon-wide personnel reductions tied to the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, initiative. Space Force officials said roughly 780 civilian employees departed, affecting areas including acquisitions and contracting where the military relies heavily on technical civilian expertise.
To compete for specialized talent, the Space Force is also considering broader use of "direct commissioning" authorities, which would allow experienced cyber and technical professionals to enter military service at higher officer ranks rather than beginning at entry-level positions - similarly to how physicians enter the military medical corps as captains, majors or lieutenant colonels.
"Cyber is critical," he said. "In fact, it's indistinguishable from space operations. If you can't control the networks that distribute the data, you can't do the space missions."
The service is expanding internal training pipelines while also recruiting from the private sector, Saltzman said.
"So if you join the Space Force, and you have cyber credibility … we might bring you in as a captain or a major."
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