# Kessel Run Flight Operations

**R-2A activity** of project 674597 — Kessel Run Flight Operations  
**Program element:** 0207461F — Kessel Run Flight Operations  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force · **Budget Activity:** 7  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0207461F/674597/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0207461F

> **NEW START.** $16.0M requested in FY2027 with no prior-year and no current-year funding.

## Summary

This activity requests $16.0M in FY2027, 100% of project 674597 — a new start with no prior-year and no current-year money. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** • Further development of ARES capabilities to accelerate deprecation of Patriot Excalibur (PEX) and Puckboard applications. • Incorporate requirements for scheduling, to include combat scheduling, training management, and standardization and evaluation (stan/eval) that incorporates requirements from all MAJCOMs and provides an enterprise solution for the Department of the Air Force (DAF). • Expedite the delivery of mission critical Command and Control (C2) capabilities and facilitate the timely deprecation of legacy C2 systems costing the DAF millions in sustainment costs. • Expedite development and deployment approach to support an aggressive timeline to fielding. The current milestone schedule for development of ARES is predicated on multiple development teams necessary to meet critical deliverable timelines. • Procure licenses for advanced development activities to include Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) capabilities utilized within the ARES application to increase application proficiency and efficacy. • Research and experiment on deploying ARES within a Denied, Disrupted, Intermittent, and Limited-Impact (DDIL) environment. • Develop options to transition ARES from Impact Level 4 (IL-4) to IL-6 partition.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** In FY 2027, the funding decreases to support higher Department of War priorities. FY 2026 funding for Kessel Run Flight Operations is under PE 0207410F, (Air & Space Operations Center), Project 674597 (Kessel Run Flight Operations) efforts.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** For FY 2026 plans, please refer to PE 0207410F BPAC 674597 (Kessel Run Flight Operations)

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 16.0 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0207461F project 674597 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

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