Senior Space Force leaders outlined a five-year roadmap to expand the service’s personnel, training pipelines and infrastructure during the “Growth of the Space Force” panel at the 2026 Air and Space Forces Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Sept. 14.
The panel included Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon , commander, U.S. Space Force Combat Forces Command; Maj. Gen. James Smith , commander, Space Training and Readiness Command; Kathryn Kolbe, assistant deputy chief of Space Operations for Installations and Logistics; and Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force John Bentivegna . The moderator for the panel was retired Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, explorer chair, AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence.
“Over the past seven years, combat operations have proven the value of the new focus on space superiority,” Chilton said. “At the same time, additional missions and operational demands are stretching the personnel and resources of our smallest service. Meeting these demands requires growing the Space Force with people, training equipment, infrastructure, more fighting capacity — all necessary to deter aggression and to operate through attack and deliver spacepower at the speed and scale today’s threat environment demands, but doubling the size of the Space Force is easier said than done.”
Space is no longer a silent backend service, but a primary warfighting domain.
“The demand signal is growing exponentially,” Gagnon explained. “Across every geographic combatant command, requests for spacepower far outpace current availability. Controlling 33% to 50% more satellites today than two years ago is only the baseline; in three years, that workload will expand fivefold. Operating at that scale requires expanding total force capacity from under 11,000 Guardians to roughly 25,000.”
“Doubling the size just makes sense for the lethality we provide the Joint Force,” Bentivegna noted, pointing out that despite punching above its weight class, the current footprint is simply stretched too thin.
Scaling the pipeline
Growing a service from the ground up creates immense structural friction. At Space Training and Readiness Command , Smith detailed the massive leap in pipeline throughput required for fiscal year 2027: moving from 1,000 new accessions to roughly 3,000 in a single year, including quadrupling officer throughput.
“The goal is to create a force that can deter and win if necessary,” Smith said. “So, while we must succeed at doubling, ultimately, we must succeed at the greater mission, which is protecting our nation’s interest in, from and to space,” he continued.
“STARCOM is a filter, not a pump,” Bentivegna emphasized, reassuring that quality would not be sacrificed for volume. STARCOM has streamlined coursework — condensing nearly 20 months of intelligence, cyber and operational training into a single, unified Officer Training Course while standing up dedicated Guardian Basic Military Training.
Infrastructure and groundwork
Force expansion is impossible without physical brick and mortar, and Kolbe highlighted shortfalls across new weapon systems, launch pads, training pipelines, and Guardian support facilities. To address these challenges, the service is standing up an Infrastructure Delivery Authority that leverages private sector expertise to help provide improved oversight of construction and apply the new National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 authorities, with the overarching goal of moving faster.
Moreover, protecting terrestrial infrastructure remains paramount. Programs like Satellite Control Augmentation Resiliency and commercial partnerships under the Joint Antenna Marketplace architecture aim to proliferate ground nodes globally.
Beyond physical capacity and structural overhauls, service leaders closed the session by reflecting on the core focus driving this transformation: empowering the Guardians themselves.
Addressing the service’s primary asset, Bentivegna underscored the human element behind the numbers.
“For the Guardians that are in the audience, all this discussion about growing a service – you know the amazing work you’re doing. You know how hard you are working. You know how you are valued by the joint and coalition force,” Bentivegna said. “We’ve heard you, and we are moving out. From our positions, we are advocating to get you the resources and the time you need so we can do the investments. For those of you who are helping us with the budget, I hope you listen to what we say.”
Reinforcing that message from an operational foundation, Kolbe tied those personnel investments directly to mission assurance.
“Installations, infrastructure, sustainment and logistics are a key enabler for warfighting capability for the Space Force,” Kolbe added. “That is our focus, and we will continue to work to improve those resources to provide enhanced warfighting capacity. And we are moving as quickly as we can. We will leverage all the legislative authorities that we can that have been made available to us, and we plan to partner closely with the private sector to leverage their expertise and innovation to get to where we need to go.”
Building on that foundational support, Smith expressed his full confidence for the service to meet the mandate.
“We will absolutely succeed at meeting and executing the task we’ve been given to grow in size, thanks to the partnerships across the Space Force and the Joint Force in helping us make that happen,” he said.
To bring the discussion back to tactical readiness and warfighting reality, Gagnon stressed that growth is ultimately measured in combat credibility.
“Space superiority is a joint priority, but they are asking you, all of you to lead it and deliver it,” Gagnon said. “Space superiority starts with space control. Space control and combat power starts with training and rehearsal. Today, 60% of Combat Forces Command lacks a full simulation trainer. We have worked on a roadmap with our teammates in STARCOM and Space Systems Command to close that gap by over half in the next 36 months. That is critical capability that might not be seen in outer space. It might not be seen on a runway. It’ll be inside those resilient ops centers that Kathryn is going to build, but that is the special sauce that will deliver combat credibility to the Joint Force, and in turn, continue to deliver the high ground for America.”
The message from the panel was clear: growth is not simply a personnel goal. Building a Space Force capable of meeting rising operational demands will require sustained investment across four interconnected areas — budget, personnel, kit and infrastructure. Additional Guardians must be matched by the training capacity, equipment, resilient operations centers, ground architecture, simulators, sustainment and resources needed to generate credible combat power. Together, these investments are an operational necessity to ensure the United States can deliver enduring space superiority for decades to come.