Space Force overhauls buying structure with new mission portfolios

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Space Force is moving ahead with a sweeping reorganization of how it buys satellites and related systems, part of a broader Pentagon effort to speed procurement and make better use of commercial technology.

At the center of the shift is a new layer of leadership known as Portfolio Acquisition Executives, or PAEs. Instead of managing individual programs, these officials will oversee groups of systems tied to specific missions and will have authority to shift funding, adjust requirements and cancel underperforming efforts across their portfolios.

The change marks a break from the current structure, where program managers typically oversee single platforms with limited ability to coordinate decisions across related systems.

Thomas Ainsworth, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, outlined the next phase of the overhaul March 17 at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference.

“PAEs are really set up to be able to deliver their capabilities, to make informed decisions on their requirements and their programmatics,” Ainsworth said.

The Space Force is standing up four new portfolios: infrastructure; battle management, command, control, communications and space intelligence; satellite communications and positioning, navigation and timing; and missile warning and tracking. They follow earlier portfolios focused on launch and space-based sensing and targeting.

The missile warning and tracking portfolio is expected to be among the largest, combining legacy geostationary satellites with newer constellations in low and medium Earth orbit. The infrastructure portfolio will absorb testing and training programs and provide shared resources across the enterprise.

The battle management portfolio will oversee networks and space domain awareness systems and link them with space control capabilities, an area officials say is becoming more central to military operations. The satcom and PNT portfolio will oversee the Global Positioning System along with military and commercial satellite communications.

Officials are still determining which programs will fall under each portfolio. “We’re still working through the details of which programs specifically go into each one,” Ainsworth said.

Top-down reform push

The restructuring is part of a broader, top-down push by the Pentagon to address long-standing problems in defense acquisition, including slow timelines, cost overruns and programs that fail to transition from development into operational use. The new model is intended to give senior leaders more flexibility to move money and adjust programs as needs change.

It also reflects a shift toward buying capability for missions rather than procuring individual systems. Ainsworth said companies pitching new technologies will increasingly be directed to the portfolio level. “The answer is going to be, ‘go talk with the PAE,’” he said.

A significant shift will be in how the Space Force defines requirements. Traditionally, requirements have been detailed and difficult to change, locking programs into specific technical approaches even as technology evolves. Under the new model, portfolio leaders will take on a larger role in shaping those requirements.

“We have a lot of legacy requirements in the Space Force,” Ainsworth said. The goal is to move away from highly prescriptive standards and “let the PAEs figure out what they need.”

That could allow officials to choose between building new systems or buying commercial services, depending on what best meets the mission. “So requirements are a big deal, obviously,” he said.

The Pentagon has been pushing to make requirements more flexible, allowing programs to trade off cost, schedule and performance and to accept commercial solutions that meet most, rather than all, military specifications.

The Space Force is also looking beyond traditional Earth orbit as part of its long-term planning. Ainsworth said the service is beginning to focus more on operations in cislunar space — the region between the Earth and the Moon — as civil, commercial and foreign activity expands there.

The area remains lightly monitored compared with Earth orbit, and officials see it as a potential gap in U.S. space awareness. The service is planning to establish leadership roles and integration points to begin incorporating cislunar capabilities into its broader architecture.

“We do need to begin integrating cislunar capability into the Space Force,” Ainsworth said. “And so we are serious about that.”