WASHINGTON - The House Armed Services Committee’s draft fiscal 2027 defense policy bill would eliminate the Space Development Agency and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office as standalone organizations, aligning with the Pentagon’s plan to reorganize Space Force acquisition programs under Portfolio Acquisition Executives. Because nothing says “nimble space procurement” like reorganizing everything into a new acronym.
The committee is scheduled to debate the proposed National Defense Authorization Act on June 4 before the legislation moves to the full House and eventually into negotiations with the Senate over a final compromise bill. So there’s still time for everyone to argue about it.
The proposed changes align with the reorganization of Department of the Air Force acquisition programs around Portfolio Acquisition Executives, or PAEs, senior officials responsible for managing broad mission portfolios rather than individual programs. Because if there’s one thing the military loves, it’s a new layer of bureaucracy.
The Space Development Agency, created in 2019, and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, established in 2018, were both set up to accelerate space procurement outside the traditional military acquisition system. They have operated under separate authorities within the Space Force and have been widely backed by both Congress and the Pentagon for their ability to rapidly field satellites and related technologies. In other words, they were the cool, fast-moving kids in class, and now they’re being told to join the regular student body.
Officials said both organizations’ rapid-acquisition approaches have now become institutionalized across the Space Force. So the agencies’ methods have been absorbed, making their standalone existence apparently redundant.
Programs currently managed by SDA, including the Transport Layer and Tracking Layer constellations, would be divided among different Portfolio Acquisition Executives. Because nothing says “efficiency” like splitting things up among more people.
The Department of the Air Force has framed the restructuring as part of a broader effort to align acquisition authority more closely with operational mission areas. The department announced May 19 that acting Space Development Agency director Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo, has taken on a dual-hatted role overseeing both SDA and serving as Portfolio Acquisition Executive for missile warning and tracking, one of the mission portfolios created under the Space Force’s new acquisition structure. So he gets to do two jobs for the price of one, which is either a promotion or a cost-cutting measure.
The department has not publicly detailed where the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, which oversees mostly classified programs, would ultimately fit within the Portfolio Acquisition Executive framework. Kelly Hammett, director of the Space RCO, said May 27 that there is still uncertainty about the specifics of the reorganization.
“It’s been a bit of a frustrating journey. We just really don’t know what it’s going to mean for Space RCO,” Hammett said at the State of the Space Industrial Base conference hosted by NewSpace Nexus in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That’s the kind of clarity you want from a reorganization.
On the NDAA language, Hammett said: “The service requested, through legislative proposals, the authority to essentially break glass, destroy everything we have in space acquisition and start fresh,” Hammett said. “That’s what they’re trying to do, but all the details about what that means have not essentially rolled out.” So: big changes, details TBD.
Hammett, who has led the Space RCO for four years, said the agency has built a team of “highly trained acquisition hunter killers,” adding that he hopes the organization’s expertise will be “recognized and valued and maintained as this whole journey continues to move forward.” That’s a very professional way of saying “please don’t fire my team.”
The HASC in its version of the NDAA, meanwhile, raises concerns about what lawmakers see as slow progress in adopting commercial space capabilities. So Congress is worried that the Space Force isn’t buying enough stuff from private companies fast enough.
The Trump administration’s proposed $71 billion Space Force budget for fiscal 2027 includes $10.4 million for the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, or CASR, a program intended to establish a reserve pool of commercial satellite communications, remote sensing and space-domain awareness services that could be activated during military crises or conflicts. That’s $10.4 million for a rainy day in space.
The budget request also includes $13.3 million for “commercial capability integration” and $68.5 million for integration of commercial satellite communications. Because when you spend billions, a few million here and there is just rounding.
“The committee notes that despite the highest overall budget request for the U.S. Space Force since its establishment, the commercial services request was half of the fiscal year 2026 request,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said in his chairman’s mark. So: more money overall, less for commercial stuff. Classic.
The committee specifically highlighted the CASR and the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking, or TAC SRT, a program intended to provide combat forces with intelligence, targeting and tracking data from commercial satellites. Lawmakers described the initiatives as being “of high congressional interest.” That’s code for “we really want this to work.”
“The committee would like to highlight the Department of Defense and the U.S. Space Force have, in two separate strategy documents, stated the desire to better incorporate commercial-built space solutions to enhance national security,” the bill states. “The committee is concerned that, despite these strategies and congressional direction, the service is not making the investments needed in these areas to make them a reality for the warfighter.” In other words: we said we wanted this, so why aren’t we doing it?
Space Force officials have argued that dedicated commercial-services budget lines do not fully capture how extensively commercial technology is already being folded into larger military space procurements. Because the money is hidden in other line items.
Rather than purchasing only standalone commercial services, the Pentagon increasingly embeds commercial software, satellite buses, communications systems, cloud infrastructure and data services into government-owned satellite constellations, missile-warning systems, command-and-control networks and ground architectures. So the commercial stuff is there, just not in an obvious bucket.
“I can still build a bespoke custom government solution, and take commercial off the shelf components, and put those together, integrate those in a smart way, and then field that capability. That’s still commercial integration,” Col. Tim Trimailo, director of the Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office, said May 27 at the State of the Space Industrial Base conference. So buying parts counts as commercial integration, even if the final product is still a government special.
“It’s not just a one size fits all approach,” Trimailo said, adding that buying capabilities strictly “as a service” is only one model for incorporating commercial space technology. There are many ways to skin this particular space cat.
Trimailo said TAC SRT - which has largely relied on congressional plus-ups in recent years - is now being evaluated as a potential long-term program of record with dedicated funding. So maybe it will become a real program instead of just a wish list.
“The department is looking at right now through a congressionally mandated report, at the viability and applicability of TAC SRT becoming a program of record,” Trimailo said. “That report is underway right now.” Congress loves reports, and this one might actually lead to something.