Analyst: expect 'big spike' in space program spending.

• Position: Budget Matters

The U.S. military's space acquisition budget could see a major increase in the coming years, said Michael Tierney, vice president of Jacques and Associates, a government consulting firm that represents clients in the national security space field.

Defense Department spending on space has dropped since 2011, he noted at a recent conference hosted by FiscalTrak and the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Acquisition funding for space was $9.1 billion in 2011 but fell below $7 billion after the onset of sequestration. The Pentagon is requesting about $6.7 billion for space programs in fiscal year 2017, he said.

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"This fiscal' 17 number... is actually the low water mark of this period," he said. "We all know that the space budget is essentially cyclical and the replenishment decisions on major platforms are what drive the budget. By necessity, both strategic and just practically, I anticipate that we're going to see a spike in funding." The Air Force's 2017 budget request for space investment is about $5.5 billion, an increase of approximately $250 million relative to the 2016 budget.

Tierney said future space spending will be driven by several major platforms: the evolved expendable launch vehicle; advanced extremely high frequency communications satellites; wideband global Satcom; GPS; and the space-based infrared system.

"As the department...