By Courtney Albon Tuesday, Mar 12

作者：考特尼·阿尔本 3月12日，星期二

 

The Missile Track Custody program is part of the Space Force's plan to make its on-orbit missile warning and tracking capabilities more resilient. (RTX)

导弹轨道监管计划是太空军计划的一部分，旨在提高其在轨导弹预警和跟踪能力的弹性。（RTX）

 

The U.S. Space Force’s $29.4 billion fiscal year 2025 budget request is $600 million lower than what it asked for in FY24 — a dip that follows three years of steady growth for the fledgling service.

美国太空军2025财年294亿美元的预算要求比其在24财年的要求低了6亿美元，这是在这项新兴服务三年稳步增长后出现的下降。

 

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told reporters March 8 that the smaller budget request – which is, like the rest of the Defense Department, constrained by funding limits set in the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act — means the service won’t be able move as fast as he’d like to build more resilient systems that can counter space threats from China and Russia.

空军部长弗兰克·肯德尔3月8日告诉记者，与国防部其他部门一样，预算要求较小，受到《2023年财政责任法》规定的资金限制，这意味着该部门将无法像他希望的那样快速行动，以建立更具弹性的系统来应对来自中国和俄罗斯的太空威胁。

 

“China has fielded a combination of anti-satellite capabilities and space-based targeting capabilities — so they’re threatening our space assets and they’re threatening our joint force,” he said during an embargoed media briefing. “We’ve got to respond to that. . . . I’d like to move faster on that than we currently are.”

他在一次禁运媒体吹风会上说：“中国部署了反卫星能力和天基瞄准能力的结合，因此它们威胁着我们的太空资产，也威胁着我们联合部队。”“我们必须对此做出回应……我希望在这方面比目前更快。”

 

The Space Force’s budget has nearly doubled since it was created in December 2019. Its fiscal year 2021 request for $15.4 billion jumped to $30 billion by FY-24. That growth was due largely to the consolidation of space systems and personnel under the service’s purview.

自2019年12月成立以来，太空军的预算几乎翻了一番。到24财年，其2021财年154亿美元的申请额跃升至300亿美元。这一增长主要是由于空间系统和人员在该处职权范围内的整合。

 

Service officials, including former Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David Thompson, have said the Space Force’s funding must continue to increase as it takes on new responsibilities and missions.

包括前太空作战副司令戴维·汤普森将军在内的服务官员表示，随着太空军承担新的职责和任务，其资金必须继续增加。

 

“The budget needs to grow because there are still more missions that are migrating to space,” Thompson told C4ISRNET in December. “The challenge is, in this environment, defense budgets are likely not to grow significantly in the near future the way they have in the recent past. "

汤普森在12月告诉C4ISRNET：“预算需要增加，因为还有更多的任务正在向太空军转移。”“挑战在于，在这种环境下，国防预算在不久的将来可能不会像最近那样大幅增长。”

 

Kendall said the service is making progress toward improving the resilience of its systems. He pointed to the shift toward building smaller satellites in large quantities across key mission areas like missile warning and communications.

肯德尔表示，该服务正在提高其系统的弹性方面取得进展。他指出，在导弹预警和通信等关键任务领域，向大规模制造小型卫星的转变。

 

However, he wants to be able to invest more in other mission areas — like positioning, navigation and timing — and improve the service’s portfolio of offensive space programs, which are largely classified.

然而，他希望能够在定位、导航和授时等其他任务领域进行更多投资，并改进该服务的进攻性太空项目组合，这些项目在很大程度上是保密的。

 

“We need to find a way to have PNT be more resilient, and I think there are some additional communications things that we need to do,” he said.

他说：“我们需要找到一种方法，让定位、导航和授时(PNT)更有弹性，我认为我们还需要做一些额外的沟通工作。”

 

Funding modernization

资助现代化

 

The largest portion of the Space Force’s spending request, $18.7 billion, would fund the development of satellites, ground systems and other supporting technology and modernization of existing capabilities. That’s about $300 million less than FY24, due in part to the Space Force’s classified portfolio.

太空军支出申请的最大一部分，即187亿美元，将用于卫星、地面系统和其他支持技术的开发以及现有能力的现代化。这比24财年减少了约3亿美元，部分原因是太空军的机密投资组合。

 

According to Kendall, a portion of the service’s FY25 budget is part of a separate account known as “pass-through” funding, which typically goes to outside organizations like the intelligence community. Kendall would not confirm whether or how much Space Force funding had shifted from its base budget to this account, but said that part of the service’s smaller request is owed to some of its funding being tagged as pass-through money.

肯德尔表示，该机构25财年预算的一部分是一个名为“直通”资金的单独账户的一部分，该账户通常流向情报界等外部组织。肯德尔不愿证实太空军的资金是否或有多少从其基本预算转移到了这个账户，但他表示，太空军较小的请求部分是由于其部分资金被标记为转移资金。

 

Elsewhere in its research and developing account, the Space Force requests $4.7 billion to develop satellites in multiple orbits that can spot and warn of traditional and advanced missile threats.

在其研发账户的其他地方，太空军要求47亿美元用于开发多轨道卫星，以发现和告警传统和先进的导弹威胁。

 

Within that portfolio, the service proposes $2.1 billion for the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared program. The effort is the successor to today’s Space-Based Infrared System, which detects and tracks ballistic missiles. It includes two satellites built by Lockheed Martin that will reside in geostationary orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth, and two Northrop Grumman-built polar satellites destined for a highly elliptical orbit.

在该投资组合中，该服务提议为“下一代天基持久红外计划”提供21亿美元。这项工作是今天探测和跟踪弹道导弹的天基红外系统的继任者。其中包括洛克希德·马丁公司制造的两颗卫星，它们将位于地球上空约22000英里的地球静止轨道上，以及诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司制造的两颗极地卫星，它们的目的地是高椭圆轨道。

 

The Space Force also wants $2.6 billion for its Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking program, which aims to field satellites in low Earth orbit, about 1,200 miles above the planet, and medium Earth orbit, at an altitude of between 1,200 and 22,000 miles.

太空军还希望为其弹性导弹预警和跟踪计划提供26亿美元，该计划旨在将卫星部署在地球上空约1200英里的近地轨道和海拔1200至22000英里的中地球轨道。

 

Funding for the MEO portion of the program would support initial satellite development and ground support. The LEO funding, which sits around $1.7 billion, would go toward the Space Development Agency’s efforts to launch 28 satellites in FY25.

该项目中地球轨道(MEO)部分的资金将用于支持最初的卫星开发和地面支持。低地球轨道(LEO)的资金约为17亿美元，将用于太空发展局在25财年发射28颗卫星的努力。

 

Another $1.7 billion would support other SDA activities, including expansion of the agency’s fleet of communications, or data transport, satellites.

另外17亿美元将支持太空发展局（SDA）的其他活动，包括扩大该机构的通信或数据传输卫星队伍。

 

The Space Force’s request includes $1 billion for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications program, which is developing secure, survivable communications capabilities for strategic missions. The satellites are designed to withstand nuclear attack, and the service wants to award a contract and begin production in 2025.

太空军的请求包括10亿美元用于发展战略卫星通信计划，该计划正在为战略任务开发安全、可生存的通信能力。这些卫星旨在抵御核攻击，该服务希望授予合同并在2025年开始生产。

 

The request also calls for $237 million to start a new program, Protected Tactical SATCOM Global. Initial budget documents did not describe the effort in detail.

该请求还要求2.37亿美元启动一个新项目，即全球受保护战术卫星通信。最初的预算文件没有详细描述这项工作。

 

The Space Force’s $4.3 billion procurement account — which is about $400 million smaller than it was in fiscal 2024 — would fund 11 launches, down from 15 planned missions in FY24. Four of those launches will carry SDA satellites and the remaining 7 will be for Space Force missions.

太空军43亿美元的采购账户——比2024财年减少了约4亿美元——将资助11次发射，低于24财年计划的15次任务。其中四次发射将携带太空发展局（SDA）卫星，其余7次将用于太空军任务。

 

Another $527 million, if approved, will buy two GPS IIIF satellites, a modernized version of navigation spacecraft designed to provide better accuracy and anti-jam capabilities. The service expects to start launching the satellites in 2027.

如果获得批准，另外5.27亿美元将购买两颗GPS IIIF卫星，这是一种现代化的导航航天器，旨在提供更好的精度和抗干扰能力。该服务预计将于2027年开始发射卫星。