The service is looking for service members with backgrounds in cyber, intelligence, acquisition and engineering.
Service members interested in becoming Guardians can apply to transfer to active duty in the Space Force.
For the next two weeks, the military’s newest service is accepting applications from active-duty Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines through its fiscal 2027 interservice transfer program.
A Space Force spokesperson told Federal News Network that the Space Force needs “several hundred officers and enlisted ISTs to meet midgrade requirements and account for the service’s steep growth.”
While service members do not need prior experience in space operations to apply, the Space Force is specifically looking for mid-grade officers and enlisted service members with space-related experience.
The service said that preference will be given to officers with backgrounds in space operations, cyber, intelligence, acquisition and engineering. As for enlisted personnel, the Space Force is looking for service members with backgrounds in intelligence, space systems operations or engineering and imagery analysis.
This year, Space Force leaders have been advocating for doubling the size of the service, saying it is a “national security necessity.” The service currently consists of just over 10,000 uniformed Guardians and roughly 5,407 civilian employees.
“We’ve got to pick up the pace. We need to grow on the military side,” Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Shawn Bratton said earlier this year.
The Space Force spokesperson said the interservice transfer program will “give us another way to bring experienced military talent into the service while continuing to build the Guardian workforce needed to support Space Force growth and protect U.S. interests in, from and to space.”
“As the Space Force continues to grow, we must be deliberate about how we bring in the talent and experience needed to meet mission demands,” the spokesperson added.
Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr., the deputy chief of space operations, strategy, plans, programs and requirements, said during the Air and Space Forces Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber conference this week the service needs 25,000 Guardians and 12,500 civilians in the next five years. “The actual requirement, I could argue, is more,” he added.
When the Space Force was created in 2019, it consisted of Airmen and civilian personnel who transferred from the Air Force. Since then, the service has opened its interservice transfer program to service members from across the military in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Reserve and National Guard personnel, as well as members of the Coast Guard, are not eligible for this year’s interservice transfer program.
Commissioned officers who have been passed over for promotion two times or more are also not eligible, as are individuals with “specific derogatory information” or those on administrative or medical hold.
Warrant or chief warrant officers cannot apply since the Space Force does not have a warrant officer corps.
The Space Force issued a specialty code crosswalk showing how military specialties across different branches match Space Force occupational codes.
To apply, applicants have to remain in their current service through December 2027. Those selected will have to commit to four years of service in the Space Force.
The interservice transfer application window is open through Oct. 2.
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