Secretary Troy Meink and space acquisition advisor Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy laid out Space Force execution plans, SDA-style PAE reform, and a push for multi-year satellite buys at Space Symposium 2026.
COLORADO SPRINGS — A queue of Space Force programs is ready to obligate the moment new budget authority reaches the field, Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Troy Meink told reporters at Space Symposium 2026. The Department of the Air Force is standardizing its acquisition structure around a program acquisition executive (PAE) model patterned on the Space Development Agency.
Meink appeared alongside Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the Secretary’s senior advisor for space acquisition, at an April 15 media availability during the April 13-16 symposium. He opened by correcting a figure from earlier in the day: the department’s plan is “to increase pay 5 to 7%, not reduce it.”
From there, execution was the message. Meink singled out the Space Air Moving Target Indicator (AMTI) effort as the lead example. “I don’t think they understand or appreciate how fast we’re building some of these space systems now,” he said. “In many cases, a large number of the programs, AMTI and others, are actually ready to execute. We’re just really waiting for all the money to clear through the system and get through the ’27 budget.”
In many cases, a large number of the programs, AMTI and others, are actually ready to execute. We’re just really waiting for all the money to clear through the system and get through the ’27 budget.
Meink described AMTI as an IDIQ vehicle seeded with multiple vendors to kick off development, with operational increments to follow. Purdy added specifics. The total ceiling reported is the full contract value, not the initial outlay. The first task order is expected “within the next month, month and a half.” Initial build-out awards are targeted “in a few months.”
Technical risk is not the constraint, Meink argued, pointing to completed on-orbit demonstrations and a technology base stretching back to his own GS-15 days at Space and Missile Systems Center working the Discovery program. “We always knew we could do this from space,” he said. “The only question was, could we do it affordably from space.” He credited rapid commercial gains in digital processing and proliferated radar work for pulling costs within reach, and said sustained competition across providers is what keeps the systems affordable long term.
On force design, Meink said the department is reinvigorating the Space Force’s S9 directorate to absorb functions previously floated as a separate futures command. “We’ve had an S9. We’re just really reinvigorating S9. S9 will pick up all those functions. So there won’t be a separate futures command,” he said. Meink and Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman are finalizing which authorities move under S9, with Capitol Hill coordination still ahead.
We’ve had an S9. We’re just really reinvigorating S9. S9 will pick up all those functions. So there won’t be a separate futures command.
The broader acquisition story, Meink said, is consolidating portfolios inside PAEs so integrated capability can be delivered end-to-end. SDA and the Rapid Capabilities Office are the templates. “SDA is essentially a PAE in another name,” he said, adding that the department will work with Congress to normalize authorities across the enterprise. The aim, in his words, is to “eliminate the steps in decision-making” and pull fewer organizations into each call.
Pressed on the D7 resilient navigation effort, Meink said both rapid prototypes are on contract and the EMD phase is structured, with pace decisions tied to the FY27 rollout. A near-term decision on the long-troubled OCX ground system is also coming. Meink, who wrestled with the program as Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space years earlier, called it “an example of how to not do software development” and signaled a pivot to modern practices for OCX or any follow-on.
Purdy handled the orbital mobility thread. The Space Access, Mobility and Logistics (SAML) office has stitched together lab and commercial work while a dedicated funding line waits in the queue. Two demonstrations fly next year — a maneuver demo and an on-orbit refueling demo — with technology maturation continuing through SBIR and STRATFI awards to build a commercial base.
Meink also urged Congress to extend multi-year procurement authority to satellite production alongside munitions and aircraft. Contractors are being asked to self-fund facilitization and non-recurring engineering, he said, and cannot credibly design for manufacturability without stable production commitments. “The only way that works is if they have some sort of long-term commitment from a production perspective,” he said. Without that stability, “we end up with systems that are not very manufacturable.”
Asked about commercial systems supporting adversary targeting, Meink called the trend “very concerning” and flagged department-wide task forces standing up around counter-UAS. He declined to detail space- and ground-based sensing contributions to recent overseas conflicts, deferring to CENTCOM, but said those systems “have been a huge part of the success” the joint force has seen.
Details of the S9 realignment and the authorities moving with it will land “in the coming weeks,” Meink said. FY27 execution is what unlocks the space programs already on the shelf.
