Space Force completes procurement reorganization, creating nine acquisition portfolios
The U.S. Space Force has completed the biggest overhaul of its acquisition organization since the service was established, creating nine mission-focused Portfolio Acquisition Executives to oversee the buying, integration and modernization of the military's space capabilities.
The reorganization gives a small group of executives broad authority over how the service buys and integrates space capabilities, reflecting a Pentagon-wide effort to speed procurement and make it easier to adopt commercial technology.
The new structure replaces an acquisition system centered on individual programs with one organized around operational missions. Instead of overseeing a single satellite constellation or ground system, portfolio executives will manage families of capabilities spanning launch, missile warning, satellite communications, command and control, and space operations.
"PAEs are empowered to pursue their assigned missions, build their organization, and drive accountability for results with the requisite authorities to capitalize on innovative technology and deliver capabilities," according to a June 22 memorandum signed by Thomas Ainsworth, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration.
The portfolios include Space Access; Space-Based Sensing and Targeting; Missile Warning and Tracking; Infrastructure; Battle Management, Command, Control, Communications and Space Intelligence; Satellite Communications and Positioning, Navigation and Timing; Advanced Capabilities; Electromagnetic Warfare and Cyber; and Space Combat Power.
The structure reflects a broader Pentagon push to speed defense acquisition amid criticism that programs move too slowly from development into operational use. Rather than managing individual platforms as separate programs with fixed requirements, portfolio executives are expected to make tradeoffs across entire mission areas, giving them greater flexibility to shift resources, adjust requirements and incorporate commercial technologies. In practice, acquisition decisions would be made by officials responsible for delivering mission outcomes rather than individual programs.
Space Force acquisition officials have said the portfolio executives will also play a larger role in defining requirements, historically one of the most rigid parts of Pentagon procurement. Instead of prescribing detailed technical specifications years in advance, the new model is intended to give portfolio leaders more discretion to determine whether a mission is best served by developing new hardware or buying commercially available products and services.
The memorandum underscores another priority of the reorganization: integration. It says mission-focused portfolios will cut across traditional organizational boundaries while relying on centralized integration support to deliver capabilities consistently across the Joint Force.
The Space Force first outlined plans earlier this year to reorganize its acquisition enterprise around PAEs, completing the transition in June after several months of assigning leaders and defining the responsibilities of each portfolio.
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