To meet growing demand for national security space capabilities, the Space Force’s top enlisted leader says it needs to double in size.
Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna told lawmakers Feb. 11 that the service’s current force of 10,000 uniformed Guardians isn’t enough to meet the Space Force’s evolving mission requirements and to confront increasing threats from adversaries like China and Russia.
“To effectively fulfill our national mandate, we must increase our infrastructure and double our size,” he said during a Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee hearing. “This critical expansion is not only necessary, but entirely achievable.”
The Space Force has already surpassed its recruiting goals for fiscal 2026, Bentivegna said, and was at 125 percent of goal after just five months. That includes 912 recruits who either have already entered basic military training or were enrolled in the delayed entry program as of Feb. 11, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The Space Force’s recruiting goal is a small fraction of that of the other military services: just 730 recruits in 2026, down from 800 new recruits in fiscal 2025, which the service successfully met last year. By contrast, the Air Force’s goal for 2026 is nearly 33,000. But the Air Force also has more than 30 times as many Airmen as the Space Force has Guardians, so proportionately, the difference is small.
A variety of factors go into setting baseline recruiting goals, the most important being needs of the service. Other factors, including recruiting and training capacity and propensity to serve are also factors. The Space Force has met or exceeded its recruiting goals every year since its establishment in late 2019. Were Congress to authorize more personnel, Bentivegna said, there are ample qualified recruits to fill those spots.
The Space Force established its own recruiting squadron for the first time in 2025, to help accelerate its growth. The Air Force Accessions Center continues to manage recruiting for both the Air Force and Space Force, but until then, there was not a dedicated Space Force unit.
“Recruitment for the Space Force has been phenomenal,” Bentivegna said. “We have more individuals who want to commission and/or enlist into the Space Force than we can take in right now, which is why doubling the size is something I think is absolutely achievable.”
Bentivegna’s call for a larger Space Force echoes that of other service leaders in recent months. Speaking in January at an event hosted by Space News and Johns Hopkins University, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Shawn N. Bratton said he expects that in the next five to 10 years, the Space Force’s active duty and civilian forces will at least double. The service currently has 5,000 civilians, but lost a lot of talent last year as a result of job cuts imposed by the Trump administration.
Space Force budgets have increased substantially, along with its missions, since its first independent budget in fiscal 2021. That first budget was $15.4 billion, but spending has grown to nearly $40 billion in fiscal 2026, including the baseline budget request and additional funds in the reconciliation bill known as the Big Beautiful Bill Act that Congress approved last summer.
If President Donald Trump’s vision for a $1.5 trillion defense budget in fiscal 2027 comes to fruition, that budget will grow even more. While Bratton and the service believe there’s a case for doubling or tripling the Space Force budget, he said some of that money should be invested in building out the infrastructure to sustain new and existing missions.
“I worry more now about the people and the infrastructure side of that equation than I do just how much is in the appropriations bill,” Bratton said Jan. 22. “We’re bringing on a lot of work. Do I have the program offices on the acquisition side to develop those capabilities and field them? Do we have the test and training infrastructure to really wring those capabilities out? Do I have … not only the number of Guardians, but do I have the places to operate from?”
