The Biden administration’s new defense budget proposal would provide the Space Force with $24.5 billion for next year, which represents approximately a 40% increase from last year’s request.
The $773 billion, if approved, will go toward strengthening the U.S. military as they deal with “the acute threat of an aggressive Russia” and the “pacing challenge of China,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement on Monday when they revealed the budget.
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If passed, the proposed budget provides the Space Force with $1 billion to spend on “resilient missile warning/missile tracking to address hypersonic and maneuverable RVs (re-entry vehicles),” according to a statement from the Air Force, which also noted the budget for hypersonic weapons increased from $438 million to $577 million — an increase of $138 million.
The $3.6 billion procurement budget provides the funding for the Space Force to get three National Security Space launches, three launches by the Space Development Agency, and two launches that will put the GPS III satellites into orbit.
“The Department of the Air Force’s fiscal year 2023 budget request provides a sound balance between meeting combatant commanders’ immediate needs today while investing in the modernized capabilities the Air and Space Forces require to deter and, if necessary, defeat aggression by China or Russia in the future,” said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
The funding would also allow the service branch to increase their uniformed Guardians by about 200 to a total of roughly 8,600.
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Hypersonic missiles, by definition, reach at least 10 times the speed of sound, and such missiles often are more maneuverable and fly closer to the surface, making it harder to defend from an incoming attack. The United States has said it is behind China in the race for hypersonic weapon superiority, while Russia launched a hypersonic missile at Ukraine weeks ago that puzzled the Pentagon.
