# Cognitive Electronic Warfare — Program Element 0207039F

**Program element:** 0207039F  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force  
**Appropriation:** 3600 — RDT&E, Air Force  
**Budget Activity:** 5 — System Development & Demonstration  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0207039F

## Summary

U.S. Air Force funding ramps 111% to a $50.5M request in FY2027, sustained across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators funded it in full. AFLCMC/WAC leads the industry work.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 0.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 23.9 |
| FY2027 | Request | 50.5 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 62.5 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 99.9 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 100.8 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 103.1 |

> Estimate types are not summed — the profile mixes actuals, enacted law, the request, and outyear projections.

## Congressional marks (FY2027)

| Stage | Marked ($M) | Change ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| Request | 50.5 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 50.5 | +0.0 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 50.5 | +0.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 50.5 | +0.0 |

> FY2027 NDAA authorization marks, as of 2026-07-27. Not appropriations or final law.

## Projects (1)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 650099 | Cognitive Electronic Warfare | 0.0 | 23.9 | 50.5 | +111% |

> Projects are the summable leaves: the program element total is their sum, never added to it.

### Project 650099 — Cognitive Electronic Warfare

This program integrates multiple projects to achieve massed non-kinetic warfare dominance for the Department of War (DoW) Counter Long Range Kill Chain (C-LRKC) and Counter-Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (C-C5ISR) constructs. It includes three initial interrelated activities that capture and exploit EW effectiveness improvements/synergies in contested/congested battlespaces. These activities include: 1) Algorithm and Applications (Algo & Apps) 2) EW Dev Env and 3) MEAP. The Alg & Apps project continues efforts initiated under PE 64270F in FY2024 (as Cog EW) and extends those actions to identify/discover, investigate, and nominate potential advanced algorithms that can fill gaps in our abilities to automatically sense the electromagnetic environment, employ machine learning (ML) to understand it, and adapt or create new electromagnetic countermeasures in real-time to defeat adversary capabilities. This provides agile and adaptive responses to novel, ambiguous, and complex adversary radar and communication systems. The EW Dev Env project ties together several on-going AF, other service, and commercial activities by building and utilizing an evolving digital infrastructure to advance promising algorithms through an integrated disciplined maturation/validation process constituting the front end of an ""EW Application Pipeline” as the entry point of an AF standard methodology for producing and delivering advanced capabilities to rapidly meet operational requirements and transition advanced technologies to fielded capabilities in collaboration with weapon system program offices and ACC's 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing (SWW). It leverages work done under AFRL's E-Gon and the AF Open Architecture Test Pipeline (AOATP) efforts. This process will ultimately be used to implement Cog EW attributes into fieldable and supportable warfighting capabilities. The Mod EA Payloads (MEAP) project is a use case exemplar exercising the Algo & Apps and EW Dev Env processes to produce fieldable supportable advanced EA capabilities for applications in multiple crewed and uncrewed platforms. It will produce various form factor payloads for integration into Open Architecture hardware/software platforms providing both offensive and defensive EA for host and other airborne entities in contested/congested environments.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** AFLCMC/WAC (9.0, 18%), BAH (5.0, 9.9%), 88 ABW (5.0, 9.9%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algorithm & Applications (A&A) | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| EW Development Environment (EWDE) | 0.0 | 19.3 | 39.6 |
| Modular EA Payloads (MEAP) | 0.0 | 4.2 | 10.5 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

## Where the FY2027 request goes

| Category | Share | $M |
|---|---|---|
| Industry primes | 38% | 19.0 |
| Government labs & warfare centers | 9.9% | 5.0 |
| Other / unspecified | 52% | 26.5 |

**Top named industry performers:** AFLCMC/WAC ($9.0M, 18%), BAH ($5.0M, 9.9%), 88 ABW ($5.0M, 9.9%).

> R-3 exhibit contract funding, not USAspending obligations.

## Mission & acquisition strategy

This program integrates multiple projects to achieve massed non-kinetic warfare dominance for the Department of War (DoW) Counter Long Range Kill Chain (C-LRKC) and Counter-Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (C-C5ISR) constructs. It includes three initial interrelated activities that capture and exploit EW effectiveness improvements/synergies in contested/congested battlespaces. These activities include: 1) Algorithm and Applications (Algo & Apps) 2) EW Dev Env and 3) MEAP.

Cognitive EW is awaiting Program of Record funding to begin in FY2028 to start integrating efforts of Machine learning/artificial intelligence/cognitive algorithms efforts into USAF EW capabilities. The EA Application Pipeline and Modular-EA efforts must continue to orchestrate on-going and new development being conducted across the USAF. Acquisition strategies will vary depending on what is appropriate to the project to be executed but will include support from the following: Industry, University Affiliated Research Center(s) (UARC), Other Transaction Authorities (OTA), Federally Funded Research & Development Centers (FFRDC), Industry Consortia, and other sources.

## Related program elements

- [0604270F — Electronic Warfare Development](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604270F) (Air Force)
- [0605518N — Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS)](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0605518N) (Navy)
- [0207412F — CRC Modernization](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0207412F) (Air Force)
- [1206438SF — Space Control Technology](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206438SF) (Space Force)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0207039F (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0207039F")`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*