Space Force boosts hiring

The Space Force is adding hundreds of people as it overhauls aging systems and pushes a faster military buildup in orbit, Secretary Troy Meink said Wednesday. (gazette.com) Meink told the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs that the service plans to hire “hundreds” and invest in retention through expected pay raises of 5% to 7% next year, along with better health care access and more spending on housing and facilities. (gazette.com) He said the service is also trying to cut into $3.5 billion in deferred maintenance, while replacing communications satellites that are now about 30 years old. (gazette.com) The hiring push comes as the Department of the Air Force says it is in a period of “immediate and significant capability modernization” to keep pace with China and other rivals. The department’s fiscal 2026 budget request totals $249.5 billion, up $36.3 billion from the prior request. (saffm.hq.af.mil) For the Space Force, the personnel buildout sits alongside a broader effort to buy and field satellites faster. Meink said at the symposium that the service wants new capabilities delivered in months rather than years or decades. (spacefoundation.org) That shift includes moving more acquisition decisions closer to Space Systems Command, where program officials can approve changes faster instead of waiting on longer Pentagon reviews. Meink said the model borrows from the way highly classified space programs have been run. (spacefoundation.org) The fiscal 2026 military personnel budget for the Space Force supports an end strength of 10,400 service members, according to Department of the Air Force budget documents. Those records show the service is budgeting for a larger force even as the department says it is reducing some civilian and contract positions elsewhere. (saffm.hq.af.mil, saffm.hq.af.mil) The recruiting backdrop has improved. ABC News reported April 15 that the Space Force had already met its fiscal 2026 recruiting goal of 730 Guardians months before the Sept. 30 deadline. (abcnews.com) Meink framed the staffing drive as a prerequisite for the technology push, telling the Colorado Springs audience that “talent is the single most important ingredient.” The next test is whether the service can turn that hiring, pay and maintenance money into satellites, facilities and crews fast enough to match its timetable. (gazette.com, spacefoundation.org)