The proposed budget for the US Space Force on 2027 financial year in the amount 71 billion-dollar investment in missile warning satellites draws attention, scattered clusters in low Earth orbit and other expensive systems. Less noticeable, but increasingly central to the service's plans is the large-scale development of ground infrastructure, necessary to manage these systems during a conflict.
US Space Force Director of Plans and Programs Brigadier General Christopher Fernengel said, that the department's main goal is to build bigger, more resilient and technologically advanced forces, capable of maintaining US military superiority in space. Along with investments in orbital systems, the service plans significant spending on persistent operations centers. These facilities are designed to ensure the continuation of military space missions during wartime, when command and control centers become targets. Military planners are afraid, that adversaries will try to disrupt space operations with missile strikes, cyber attacks and electronic warfare, aimed not only at satellites, and to terrestrial networks.
The brigadier general pointed to the Consolidated Space Operations Center as a model for future operations centers 18 600 square meters, which is being built in Colorado at the Shriver Space Force Base. The department plans to build up to 10 such centers of operations throughout the United States, by creating a distributed architecture, able to support foreign combat commands and ensure the continuity of operations in the event of a disruption in the operation of individual facilities. The budget documents provide for the allocation of approx 1 billion dollars in 2027 financial year for four centers of operations. These facilities are designed to support key missions, in particular, "Branched military-space architecture" and educational activities. They will also provide promising opportunities for space control, data exchange, space detection and targeting.
IN 2027 year, the US Space Force plans to expand its staff by almost 2800 military and 2000 civilian employees. According to Christopher Fernangel, the construction of new facilities will allow the permanent presence of the department at the bases, where the necessary space infrastructure was previously lacking. This will provide career growth opportunities for servicemen, which support regional combatant commands, and will help to more deeply integrate space capabilities into daily military operations. The service hopes to create communities of space operators at many bases around the country. The centers will allow the Space Force to form personnel at these locations, rather than forcing people to move due to lack of further assignments.
Recent operations have confirmed the need for a more distributed architecture, added the brigadier general. During Operation Epic Fury, space capabilities were attacked and destroyed for the first time, which emphasized the need to decentralize operations and reduce dependence on centralized facilities. He noted, that future attacks may be as physical, and cybernetic, therefore, a network of interconnected operations centers is required, rather than multiple fixed objects.
Also in the budget for 2027 year, according to the US Space Force director of plans and programs, investments in tactical operations centers are foreseen, designed for space electronic warfare. These objects, part of which will be in the USA, and part - abroad, will support the management of combat operations in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Source: https://spacenews.com