RDT&E Program Element · President's Budget PB2027

NC3 Enterprise Center

PE 0303255F·U.S. Air Force·Approp. 3600 — RDT&E·BA6 — RDT&E Management Support
FY2027 Request
$18.1M
Air Force · RDT&E
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U.S. Air Force funding falls 71% to a $18.1M request in FY2027 (down from a FY2026 peak). In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate added 149% (to $45.1M); House appropriators added 138% (to $43.1M).

FY2027 Request
$18.1M
▼ 71% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$61.4M
▲ 61% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$38.2M
Prior year

For fiscal year 2027, the U.S. Air Force is requesting $18.1M for NC3 Enterprise Center under RDT&E program element 0303255F, down 71% from FY2026.

Funding trajectory

Funding profile, FY2025–FY2031

Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.

2550038.2FY25ACTUAL61.4FY26ENACTED18.1FY27REQUEST16.3FY2811.6FY2912.0FY3012.3FY31
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual38.2
FY2026Enacted61.4
FY2027Request18.1
FY2028Outyear16.3
FY2029Outyear11.6
FY2030Outyear12.0
FY2031Outyear12.3
Where it sits

Acquisition lifecycle

This program is funded in RDT&E Budget Activity 6 — RDT&E Management Support.

Complete
Research
BA 1–2
Complete
Advanced Technology
BA 3
Complete
Prototyping
BA 4
Current
Development & Fielding
BA 5–7
Inside the program element

1 project rolls up into PE 0303255F

Projects are the summable leaves — the PE total is their sum, never added to it. Program elements and projects carry the full five-year plan; activities stop at the budget year. This PE moves -71% overall, which can hide much larger swings below.

Project 664620

NC3 Enterprise Center

$18.1MFY2027 request ▼ 71%
FY2025 actual$38.2M
FY2026 enacted$61.4M
FY2027 request$18.1M

Department of War (DoW) tasked United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) Enterprise Center (NEC) to oversee and monitor operations and security of the enterprise, develop tools to assist in monitoring the readiness of the NC3 architecture, and capture the operational risks as adversaries develop the ability to disrupt our capabilities from multiple threat vectors. This effort will fund enterprise operations, requirements, systems engineering and assessment activities. The NEC will capture and integrate process and system data to assess operational risk, characterize multi-domain threats, and explore operational trade space associated with next generation NC3 architectures. The NEC will work with the Services to explore new technologies and develop innovative solutions in a virtual environment, and capture metrics that identify system problems and readiness issues before they impact operations. The NEC will also develop digital engineering capabilities to support governance responsibilities of NC3. The USSTRATCOM Strategic Mission Research and Development is an effort to tackle the hard Scientific and Technological (S&T) problems USSTRATCOM and DoW face in today's environment. Leveraging built-in tools and DoW/DHS data to anticipate and quickly analyze and assess national, strategic, and operational impacts/risks associated with the loss or disruption of critical systems, assets and infrastructure to help with USSTRATCOM Unified Command Plan (UCP) assigned mission sets. Current information together with logical links-nodes dependency views directly support mitigation COA development. This USSTRATCOM S&T initiative includes the three earliest stages of Department of War (DoW) RDT&E, including basic research, applied research, and advanced technology development. The FY 2026 request was reduced by 5.408 million for Advisory and Assistance Services to promote efficiencies and advance the policies of the Administration in alignment with Executive Order 14222, "Implementing the President's Department of Government Efficiency Cost Efficiency Initiative.” This program element included all necessary expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver weapon system capability.

Accomplishments / planned programs (R-2A) — prior, current and budget year only
FY2025 actual$17.1M
FY2026 enacted$10.6M
FY2027 request$12.9M

Cost Savings are reflected based on USSTRATCOM's impact from the PDM I reductions in OSD Service Contracts and FFRDC reductions. Reductions will continue to adversely affect the NC3 efforts identified in the below FY27 Base Plan. -Continue to update the NC3 Roadmap, capture and develop NC3 Operational and Implementation baseline…

Read the FY2027 plan →
Classifiedflat
FY2025 actual$0.0M
FY2026 enacted$4.0M
FY2027 request$4.0M

FY2027 planned work Provide support for the Distributed Command and Control System at USSTRATCOM Headquarters and remote locations.

FY2026 to FY2027 change Operational costs for this requirement reflect no increase nor decrease from FY2026 to 2027. Funds remain static through the fiscal years.

FY2026 plans — current year Supports the Distributed Command and Control System at USSTRATCOM Headquarters and remote locations. Distributed Command and Control is a classified effort and will be provided on a need to know basis. For further information please contact the Strategic C2 Systems Branch at (202) 404-3405. This is in cooperation with DISA and OSD Policy.

Strategic Mission Research and Development Effort▲ 2%
FY2025 actual$1.1M
FY2026 enacted$1.1M
FY2027 request$1.1M

FY2027 planned work -Continue to create, support and promote applications for Strategic Mission Research and Development S&T objectives -Support tactical efforts for JEMSO S&T -The development of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) solutions for targeting

FY2026 to FY2027 change The NC3 Enterprise Center reflect a slight increase due an Reprogramming NDO Balance to support NC3 systems, engineering and assessment functions.

FY2026 plans — current year -Create and promote applications for Strategic Mission Research and Development S&T objectives -Support tactical efforts for JEMSO S&T -The development of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) solutions for targeting

Congressional action

Congressional marks

Committee marks on the FY2027 request. Adds and cuts are reconciled in conference before they become law.

RequestPresident's Budget
$18.1M
House NDAA (HASC)HASC
$18.1M full · +$0
Senate NDAA (SASC)SASC
$45.1M +$27.0M · +149%
House Approps (HAC-D)HAC_D
$43.1M +$25.0M · +138%
▲ $27.0M chamber gap — unresolved as of 2026-07-27. These are FY2027 authorization marks (NDAA); appropriations and the conference agreement may differ.
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Answers are generated from the figures on this page — the FY2027 justification exhibits and the marks tracked above — and nothing else is consulted. Confirm any figure against the cited exhibit before you use it externally.

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Questions this page can answer
How does the FY2027 request compare with FY2026, and what does the five-year plan show?What did the FY2027 NDAA committees do to this request?

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Provenance

Cite this page

Sources
FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification · Exhibits R-2 / R-3 · PE 0303255F (President's Budget PB2027) — and FY2027 NDAA committee marks, as tracked 2026-07-27.
Suggested citation
HitchAI, "NC3 Enterprise Center (PE 0303255F)," federal budget intelligence, PB2027 vintage. hitchintel.com/programs/0303255F
Machine access
Markdown twin /programs/0303255F.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.combudget_get_program_element, budget_get_cong_marks