Cuts to Advisory and Assistance Services in the FY 2026 Air Force and Space Force RDT&E Request

This week’s post completes my analysis of proposed cuts to Advisory and Assistance (AA) services in the Fiscal Year 2026 Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) budget requests published by the four military departments. To date, my other posts on this subject have concerned the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. Also, for those who missed it, back in August I posted an article on similar cuts in AA services found in the Defense Procurement budget. Today’s post provides the same analysis of the requested RDT&E budget for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.  

As a reminder, these cuts will go into effect only if Congress passes a full year budget for 2026. If Congress passes one or more Continuing Resolutions instead, the cuts will remain on paper.

The data shows that the Air Force plans to cut $107.3M for AA services out of their FY 2026 RDT&E budget request. The cuts stretch across 98 programs with the average reduction amounting to $1.1M. As for the total requested RDT&E budgets for all 98 programs, they amount to $11.7B, translating into an overall funding reduction of just under 1.0% if the cuts are implemented.

The program that will see the biggest cut (-$8.6M) is for the Long Range Standoff Weapon. It is followed by a cut of $8.6M to the Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System (DEAMS) program. DEAMS is a long-standing business system modernization effort.

Here are the Air Force programs facing proposed cuts in AA services

Concerning U.S. Space Force, it plans AA services cuts totaling $117.6M across 54 programs with an overall proposed FY 2026 RDT&E budget of $11.2B. The proposed Space Force cuts go deeper, therefore, than those for the Air Force, amounting to 10.5% of the $11.2B total.

The Space Force program that will see the deepest cut is Space System Command Enterprise Engineering & Integration, with a proposed AA services reduction of $18.0M out of a total proposed RDT&E budget of $110.6M. Other programs anticipating sizeable cuts include Major Test and Evaluation Investment – Space, with $16.6M cut from a proposed RDT&E budget $189M, and the Evolved Strategic SATCOM program, which proposes a cut of $12.2M out of an RDT&E budget of $1.2B.

Here are the Space Force programs facing proposed cuts in AA services

Summing up, U.S. Space Force is planning to make much deeper cuts to AA services than is the U.S. Air Force. In fact, Space Force plans deeper cuts than any of the other military departments. The Air Force, by contrast, is planning smaller total cuts in AA services than any of the military departments.