The Space Force needs more people. It’s just not precisely sure how many more. 

A Government Accountability Office report released earlier this month found that the youngest and smallest military branch does not have a process to consistently or accurately determine how many people it needs.

The Space Force agreed and said it would work on a process to measure its manpower needs, but it did not provide a timeline.

The leader of Combat Forces Command, Gen. Greg Gagnon, addressed the staffing needs broadly during an online appearance last week hosted by The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“The Space Force is advocating for a doubling in size over five years,” explained Gagnon, who oversees guardians in electromagnetic warfare, missile warning and missile tracking, cyber warfare and other fields. 

Gagnon, who works at Peterson Space Force Base, ensures guardians across all the operational fields are ready when combatant commanders like those in the Middle East need them. Much of his work is focused on training events for guardians and accepting new systems, he said. 

Some guardians, including those in electronic warfare, are deployed to work abroad. While others, such as those in missile warning, aid global missions from their operations floors in Colorado and elsewhere. He noted guardians working at Buckley Space Force Base provided top-notch missile warning during the Iran war.

Current operations have also shown the need for additional experienced Space Force guardians, he said.

“Inside our joint force, they want fully trained and experienced guardians throughout their formation, whether that’s the Army component or some of the joint staffs,” he said. “In order to generate that type of experience and those type of guardians, we need to have more mass.”

Currently, he can’t send someone to work in a joint environment alongside airmen, soldiers and sailors because they are needed for mission-essential work. 

The recent GAO report took a holistic look at Space Force staffing and found that across the whole force, there is a 25% shortfall between job assignments and total force requirements. The report found 13,506 people were assigned to positions of about 18,000 required. The report found about 15,600 positions are funded. 

The greatest need is for cybersecurity and intelligence personnel, in addition to overall more enlisted members, the GAO found after speaking with Space Force leaders. There is almost a 1-to-1 ratio between enlisted members and officers, the report found.

Those who worked on the audit made the personnel estimates based on the Space Force’s current personnel requirements, even though it is not fully accurate, the report said. 

The report found the current force is made up of about 30% officers, 35% enlisted members and 35% civilians. 

The 2027 National Defense Authorization Act proposes increasing the number of authorized uniformed positions for the Space Force by 2,800 positions up to 13,200. All Space Force members are focused on operations, and the Air Force provides support personnel in roles such as base security.

The new incoming leader of the Space Force, Gen. Doug Schiess, who probably will serve as the chief of space operations, also hopes to hire 2,000 more civilians next year. He outlined plans for growth during his Senate confirmation hearing. 

Civilians lead, plan and manage functional areas across the force, according to the report. 

The House passed the $1.15 trillion 2027 National Defense Authorization Act last week. The Trump administration’s headline-grabbing $1.5 billion defense proposal relies on a second bill.

The NDAA faces a tougher road in the Senate, where it failed 50-46 on a procedural vote earlier this month. All Senate Democrats present opposed the measure and four senators, two Democrats and two Republicans, were absent. 

Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the vote was a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran. 

“Trump is dragging America deeper into a war in Iran with no authorization, no plan and no exit strategy. Democrats will not go along,” Schumer said in a news release. 

However, the NDAA is typically a bipartisan bill and has never failed to pass. 

Gagnon said he is already getting ready to see the influx of new guardians and has reassigned 23 people to help prepare.

The new guardians will have to attend basic training and initial technical school before arriving at units where they are trained to work with specific crews.

“If the budget is approved, I would say it’s an 18-month lag till I am gaining all these new faces,” Gagnon said. 

In addition to the uniformed and civilian members of the Space Force counted as guardians, the force relies heavily on a large contracting force. 

While the Space Force does not have a count on the total number of contractors, it estimated a headcount by using the estimated number of hours worked to calculate the number of full-time contractors. 

The report estimated the number of contractors has increased from about 10,400 in fiscal year 2021 to about 17,100 in fiscal year 2025. In each of those years, the number of contractors was higher than the number of uniformed members. 

The GAO recommended better tracking of contractors to determine its workforce needs. 

“Without accurately and consistently tracking contractor personnel supporting the service, the Space Force cannot fully quantify its personnel requirements and determine its optimal workforce mix,” the report found. 

The Space Force said in its formal response that it is in the process of documenting this portion of its workforce. 

Despite the current fight over the NDAA, funding and staffing the Space Force has been a bipartisan issue as China works to catch up with the U.S. in space. 

On July 10, China successfully caught a reusable rocket using a net attached to a sea platform, Reuters reported.

“China is about to bust out with reusable launch,” Gagnon said, referencing the event. 

Reusable rockets will help China lower costs and put up mega satellite constellations similar to those SpaceX is launching into orbit, he said. 

“Between us and China, we are running really, really fast,” he said. 

Editor’s note: The Space Force said in response to Gazette questions after this story originally published that it is “implementing a service-wide, agile workforce framework” rather than doing a one-time personnel study.

The service developed tools to estimate its manpower needs for operational units, and it is expanding the capabilities to units working on education, training and acquisitions. The new processes will be formalized over the next 12 months.