“We’ve seen in Operation Epic Fury, for the first time, that our space capabilities have been targeted and destroyed,” Brig. Gen. Christopher Fernengel told the State of Space Industrial Base conference in New Mexico on May 29, 2026, framing what he described as a new operational reality for ground-based U.S. space systems.
Brig. Gen. Christopher Fernengel on Epic Fury and the new threat environment
Fernengel, the director of plans and programs in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Strategy, Plans, Programs and Requirements, told the conference that lessons from Operation Epic Fury in Iran have changed planning assumptions. “We expect that to happen more, whether that be OCONUS [outside the continental US] or targeted kinetically or through cyberspace activity [inside] CONUS,” he said. In his role he is responsible for implementing service programs across the five-year Future Years Defense Program, a context he used to justify changes to posture and investment.
Four U.S. space operations centers: $1 billion in the FY27 budget
As first reported by Air and Space Forces Magazine and confirmed at the conference, the Air Force’s fiscal 2027 budget includes $1 billion to build four space operations centers in the United States at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.; Redstone Arsenal, Ala.; Schriever Space Force Base, Colo.; and Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. The detail in Fernengel’s presentation underscores a move toward geographic disaggregation: creating multiple ground nodes rather than concentrating command and control in a small number of locations. The Space Force does not have a separate military construction budget, instead relying on the Air Force for those projects, a funding relationship Fernengel noted in describing the program.
Space EW tactical operations centers: “kind of buried in the budget”
Fernengel said there is also “a significant investment in several space EW tactical operations centers” that is “kind of buried in the budget.” He did not provide cost or schedule specifics at the conference, but said the plan is to stand those EW centers both domestically and abroad as the Space Force moves to “build out many of those space electromagnetic warfare capabilities and do the battle management of that.” The comments place electronic warfare — described specifically as space electromagnetic warfare — alongside the physical hardening and dispersal of ground operations as a central element of the FY27–FY31 posture.
Classified FY27 programs and new missions described as “decisive and war‑winning”
Fernengel also discussed mission growth funded in the service’s classified budget request, which he said in FY27 hits a historic high of $17.3 billion. “If you were to take a peek under the hood of the classified budget proposal, the words that I would say strike me are decisive and war-winning,” he said. He linked that classified investment to new missions intended to enable the joint force “to close long-range kill chains,” naming airborne moving target indication and the new Space Data Network as examples of the kinds of capabilities being prioritized.
Personnel growth tied directly to new kit: numbers to 2031
Fernengel said that the capital and mission growth envisioned in FY27 requires a corresponding increase in people. “You’ll see an increase of 2,800 military in 2027 and a little north of 2,000 civilians in 2027 to account for that mission growth,” he said, and added that this is “on a road to get to 25,000 military by 2031 and 12,500 civilians by 2031.” He framed that growth as necessary “so that that additional kit [is] actually lethal and employ properly.”
What this means for the joint force, procurement leaders, and operational planners
- Joint force: The Space Force presented airborne moving target indication and the Space Data Network as specific new missions intended to help “close long-range kill chains,” signaling capabilities that the broader joint force will expect to integrate into future operations.
- Procurement leaders and base planners: The $1 billion MILCON line for four U.S. space operations centers — executed through the Air Force — and the undisclosed investments in space EW tactical operations centers will drive construction and acquisition planning at Kirtland, Redstone Arsenal, Schriever, and Grand Forks.
- Operational planners and defenders: Fernengel’s public assessment that space capabilities were targeted and destroyed during Operation Epic Fury, and his expectation that such targeting will increase, reframes planning toward disaggregation and the distributed siting of both command-and-control centers and EW battle-management nodes.
Fernengel’s remarks tie a visible budget line — $1 billion for four U.S. centers — to less visible, classified investments and to explicit personnel growth. The result, as he presented it, is a Space Force reconfiguring its ground posture: spreading operations across multiple domestic sites, establishing tactical EW centers at home and abroad, and expanding staff to operate the new systems. Whether this combination of construction, classified programs, electronic-warfare nodes, and personnel increases yields the distributed resilience Fernengel described will be one of the clearest tests of the FY27 plan.
Source: Breaking Defense — Epic Fury highlighted Space Force needs for distributed ops, EW sites
