A look at competitors in any upcoming space race produces a field that consists of Russia, Europe, Japan, China, India, and potentially South Korea. Russia’s program is cash starved to the point that President Putin declared his country "had nothing to be proud of in space." According to the Chairman of Europe’s National Space Research Centre, Russia’s investment in space has bottomed out at only 2% of worldwide expenditure, with the United States and Europe making up 90% of the world’s space spending. According to data gathered by World Prospects for Government Space Markets, U.S. space spending dwarfs that of the next two closest competitors, Europe and Japan who spend on the order of $1 billion and $2 billion on military space respectively.

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Henderson, Scott A. The Third Battle: Is the U.S. Ready to Wage the Next Conflict in Space?. Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Air University, March 2004. [ 7 quotes ] [ page 25 ]