{"id":17576,"date":"2018-11-15T16:33:31","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T16:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/15\/heres-what-the-pentagon-thinks-the-actual-cost-of-a-space-force-will-be\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:32:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:32:48","slug":"heres-what-the-pentagon-thinks-the-actual-cost-of-a-space-force-will-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2018\/11\/15\/heres-what-the-pentagon-thinks-the-actual-cost-of-a-space-force-will-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what the Pentagon thinks the actual cost of a Space Force will be"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Since a U.S. Air Force estimate emerged in September, putting the cost of President Donald Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/10\/23\/pentagon-presents-recommendations-on-space-force-to-trump\/\" target=_blank>desired Space Force<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/air-force-association\/2018\/09\/17\/air-force-secretary-space-force-will-come-with-13b-in-added-costs\/\" target=_blank>$13 billion<\/a>, Pentagon officials have been pledging that the \u201cofficial\u201d cost estimate from the department will be much smaller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now we know by how much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to reporters Thursday, Deputy Secretary of Defense <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/interviews\/2018\/11\/12\/pentagons-no-2-explains-his-lack-of-satisfaction-with-the-f-35\/\" target=_blank>Patrick Shanahan<\/a> said his team\u2019s initial estimate for the Space Force will be in the \u201csingle digits\u201d of billions of dollars, and \u201ccould be\u201d lower than $5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The difference in cost is significant, not just for the dollar value but as part of the broader fight over the future of the Pentagon\u2019s space architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2018\/10\/29\/the-biggest-challenge-to-the-pentagons-space-plan-hint-its-not-the-technology\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mattis_pence.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The biggest challenge to the Pentagon\u2019s space plan? Hint: \u2018It\u2019s not the technology\u2019<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The planning for the Space Force continues &#8230;.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The $13 billion figure sent waves of sticker shock through the defense community and led to accusations that the Air Force \u2014 which has been reluctant to embrace the idea of a Space Force \u2014 was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2018\/09\/18\/new-space-force-price-tag-fuels-skepticism-on-capitol-hill\/\">hyping up costs<\/a> to kill the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the Defense One conference on Thursday, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson was asked about Shanahan\u2019s estimate and pointedly defended the figure put forward by the Air Force, saying that the $13 billion sum is needed to realize the scope of Trump\u2019s direction to the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhatever is put forward needs to implement the president\u2019s proposal. What we put forward was in the cost estimates to implement a standalone department,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The president is going to be making some decisions to put forward a proposal in concert with his fiscal year 20 budget proposal that will go to the Congress in February. So the cost will be really based on what are the elements in the model in that proposal, and our cost estimate that we gave to a lot of people in the Pentagon is September was the cost of a fully fledged standalone department and also a unified combatant command.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/11\/08\/space-expertise-isnt-necessary-to-run-the-space-development-agency-says-pentagon-deputy\/\" target=_blank>exclusive interview with Defense News <\/a>last month, Shanahan pledged that his cost would be \u201cless\u201d than the Air Force figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe goal here is not to create a lot of incremental cost,\u201d he had said. &#8220;In this department, you know with this secretary and this Congress, people in the White House, they\u2019re not going to let us just go throw money at that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hint: It&#8217;s less than the $13 billion the Air Force says it needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":23,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","left-column","home","middle-column"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","left-column","home","middle-column","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"daily-news-roundup"},"9":{"categories":["home","daily-brief","newsletters"],"primary_category":"home"}}},"categories":[160,163,36,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3378,3384],"class_list":["post-17576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-space-report","category-newsletters","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"I7YTZR734FGQLHG2BLXFRYMMOQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/space\/2018\/11\/15\/heres-what-the-pentagon-thinks-the-actual-cost-of-a-space-force-will-be\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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