The 2023 fiscal year budget is in the works. And every department seems to have a wish list of funding. What some of the departments are asking for is laughable – in terms of the amount of money and what it is to be used for.
Space Force has an ask, too. The problem is that Space Force is one aspect of the Trump era that the Democrats were unable to get rid of. You can see many head Democrats cringe at the very mention of Space Force.
As much as the liberals may hate the new military branch, they’re doing important work. And their budgetary ask is one that we need if we want to remain protected against all that is going on in the world.
Space Force was given a teeny tiny budget to get started. And based on all that they are responsible for, it was entirely too small. For this year, they’re asking for a 40% budget increase. And before you panic about it being a lot of money, it’s for a good reason – to boost space-based missile warnings.
A lot of missiles have been “tested” recently as world leaders like to show off what they have available. We’ve seen North Korea showing off to South Korea. And we’ve heard rumors that what Iran is hiding is even more impressive.
Let’s remember that neither North Korea nor Iran are friends of ours. If they want to send us a message, they could do so in the form of a missile – and we need to know if and when there’s one headed to us.
That’s where Space Force comes in. They’re the only branch of the military capable of telling us about space-based missiles.
$24.5 billion is not a lot when you consider what the Democrats want to spend money on. How the Space Force uses this money will be immediately measurable. Unlike the progressive ideas that include a lot of investing without actually seeing any results. And in some instances, progressive spending isn’t even happening for the benefit of the U.S.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall explained that the $7 billion above and beyond the fiscal 2022 budget is due to a shift to more resilient space architecture. Infrastructure, if the Biden administration would prefer.
“The reason there is a Space Force, the reason the Obama administration changed its strategy for space, was because of the threat — the widespread investment that both China and Russia have in anti-space, counterspace capabilities, including things that threaten us and within all different orbital regimes. This is a move toward systems that can continue to provide the services we depend on.”
Do you hear that? It’s actual reasoning for why more money needs to be spent. It’s a far cry from what half of the liberal departments are asking for. Xavier Becerra of the Health and Human Services Department is asking for money to deal with COVID when there’s not even a pandemic anymore – and even more money to deal with the next pandemic, even though there’s not even one in sight.
The issues that Space Force is dealing with are already here. We can see the threats – and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine proves that we need to be a lot more proactive than we’ve been.
Each and every dollar of the $7 billion that is above and beyond last year’s budget has been carefully outlined. It includes not only research and development but also the need for a Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking initiative as well as a rapid acquisition program known as Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability.
If all of this leads to better tracking in space and the ability for us to protect against incoming threats, we need to make sure that of all the departments asking for money, Space Force gets what they want.
