The role of foreign military sales (FMS) in the space defense sector is a rapidly evolving concept.
From the position, navigation, and timing provided by our GPS constellation to the critical global awareness delivered by missile warning satellites, the United States Space Force (USSF) is constantly working to stay ahead of adversarial threats. While the U.S. remains the leader in space, ensuring collective security requires a shared response. Through FMS, the Space Force is partnering with our allies to win against current and future space threats.
By providing FMS solutions to American allies, the U.S. bolsters international security and stability, achieving both military and foreign policy objectives. FMS strengthens our Combatant Commands by empowering allied partners and reinforcing ties between our governments. Furthermore, as partners procure and operate their own capabilities, they can better support coalition operations, which provides new investment for our industrial base and promotes burden-sharing for the U.S. military and the American taxpayer.
The FMS program is a government-to-government initiative designed to promote international security by selling defense articles, services, and training to allied nations. Authorized by the Arms Export Control Act, it is a key tool for achieving U.S. foreign policy goals and enhancing interoperability with our partners. Through an FMS agreement, a partner nation commits funds for the U.S. Space Force to oversee all contracting and procurement, ensuring every transaction adheres to the rigorous standards of the U.S. defense acquisition system.
At Space Systems Command (SSC), our active FMS portfolio is valued at more than a billion dollars. While modest compared to the U.S. Department of the Air Force’s larger fighter jet programs, this is a significant and rapidly growing sum for America’s newest military service.
A related program, Building Partner Capacity (BPC), uses U.S. funding to develop the capabilities of select partner nations, yet it still flows through the FMS process. In 2025, BPC accounted for approximately $100 million of SSC's portfolio. For these cases, SSC leveraged commercial-off-the-shelf solutions to ensure rapid delivery to nascent space partners and those with critical needs.
We continue to see immense demand from our allies to procure U.S. military and dual-use space technologies. We are committed to meeting that demand and expanding opportunities with the U.S. industrial base, working through the sustainment phase to ensure complete cradle-to-grave support. Our goal is not just to deliver a single widget or system; we provide our partners with complete operational capabilities—a "total package approach" they often cannot access through direct commercial sales. Our allies are increasingly interested in partnering with us, particularly in high-demand areas like space domain awareness (SDA), space control, and satellite communications.
Recent successes include delivering advanced SATCOM services from proliferated Low Earth Orbit (pLEO) constellations, helping Poland establish its own Space Operations Center, and providing SDA capabilities to South American partners.
To ensure critical U.S. technology does not fall into the hands of adversaries, the security cooperation enterprise has established robust guidelines for every step of the FMS and BPC processes. From initial exportability reviews to rigorous end-use monitoring after delivery, these protocols safeguard national security while enabling us to support our partners effectively.
SSC’s role in this process is multifaceted. The SSC International Affairs office (SSC/IA) serves as the central hub for coordinating case development and support. When a foreign partner requests a space capability, the request is assigned to the appropriate System Delta—the program office that owns the capability. The System Delta, with expert support from SSC/IA, then manages the case from the initial Letter of Request (LOR) through final delivery. One of our key ongoing efforts is building a dedicated FMS workforce within these program offices to ensure they are equipped to execute cases efficiently.
Ultimately, the U.S. is safer when we partner with our allies and when they are vested stakeholders in our common defense. Our priority is to proliferate critical capabilities to our partners. As the Chief of Space Operations has repeatedly emphasized, our best chance at overcoming threats in the space domain occurs when we partner to win.