# Project WP-01 — BIOLOGICALLY BASED MATERIALS AND DEVICES

**Program element:** 0602024E — Warfighting Performance  
**Project:** WP-01  
**Component:** Defense-Wide  
**Appropriation:** 0400 — RDT&E, Defense-Wide  
**Budget Activity:** 2 — Applied Research  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E

## Summary

Project WP-01 — BIOLOGICALLY BASED MATERIALS AND DEVICES requests $147.0M in FY2027, 40% of the $364.1M requested for program element 0602024E, up 17% on FY2026. 12 R-2A activities decompose the request, 2 new this cycle.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 0.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 125.7 |
| FY2027 | Request | 147.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 142.8 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 164.5 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 166.7 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 170.1 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0602024E; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project WP-01 buys

The Biologically Based Materials and Devices project will leverage the growing application space of the biological sciences for the development of new DoW capabilities to improve the sustainability of warfighters and operational platforms in varied domains. This project will develop solutions for critical resource processing, materials development, threat detection and characterization, and warfighter resilience to infectious disease. The materials and technologies developed through this project will protect and sustain warfighters and operations in austere conditions, enhancing warfighter resiliency and lethality. Prior to FY 2026, efforts in this Project were funded in PE 0602715E, Project MBT-02.

## Activities (R-2A) — 12

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BioFuse | — | 6.3 | 33.6 | +438% | [a7](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a7) |
| Biologically Based Materials and Devices Studies and Concepts | — | — | 30.1 | new | [a9](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a9) |
| Genetic Utilization for Advanced Regulation and Defense of Indigenous And Native Species (GUARDIAN) | — | 9.0 | 25.3 | +181% | [a6](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a6) |
| Fleetwood | — | — | 20.0 | new | [a8](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a8) |
| eX Virentia (eXVi) | — | 12.5 | 12.8 | +3% | [a1](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a1) |
| Turning Upcycled Waste into Novel, Sustainable Materials | — | 15.1 | 11.7 | −23% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a0) |
| Biological Undersea Energy | — | 13.6 | 5.4 | −60% | — |
| Biotechnology for Challenging Environments | — | 6.1 | 5.0 | −19% | — |
| Field Forward Biothreat Storage Solutions for Force Protection | — | 11.6 | 2.5 | −78% | — |
| Strengthening Resilient Emotions and Nimble Cognition Through Engineering Neuroplasticity (STRENGTHEN) | — | 9.0 | 0.6 | −93% | — |
| Materiel Protection through Biologics | — | 5.8 | — | −100% | — |
| Environmental Microbes as a Bioengineering Resource (EMBER) | — | 1.7 | — | −100% | — |

> Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. In the request year they partition this project exactly; in earlier years they can under-cover it.

### BioFuse

- Demonstrate model-driven, rational design of biological candidates and increase strength and selectivity of metal/mineral interactions. - Evaluate top biological metal/mineral processing candidates under real-world processing workflows and conditions. - Perform process durability assessments. - Refine the list of candidate biological…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a7

### Biologically Based Materials and Devices Studies and Concepts — NEW START

- Initiate technology development for the integration of dynamic and responsive biological organisms or bio-inspired molecules into composite materials. - Investigate approaches for the development of biological processes and biologically derived materials to support and sustain the warfighter in austere conditions. - Explore methods…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a9

### Genetic Utilization for Advanced Regulation and Defense of Indigenous And Native Species (GUARDIAN)

- Optimize technology development for use against the Brown Tree Snake. - Identify novel cell culture techniques to significantly enhance gene editing technology development in vertebrates. - Test effectiveness of vertebrate gene editing tools in laboratory trials. - Test effectiveness of gene editing technology in field trials for the…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a6

### Fleetwood — NEW START

- Investigate approaches for the development of chemical and biological processes and biologically derived materials to support and sustain the warfighter in all conditions. - Initiate formulation and characterization of materials chemistries for the catalytic separation of domestic agricultural and forestry residues at the laboratory…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a8

### eX Virentia (eXVi)

- Complete long term plant growth and stabilization for selected species to support scaling approach. - Complete chemical exposure experiments to identify biochemical, molecular, and physiological patterns associated with exposure of plants to target stressors. - Evaluate plant exposure using multi-omics and external observable…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a1

### Turning Upcycled Waste into Novel, Sustainable Materials

- Expand biology-based switching to include multiple pathways for consuming different feedstocks or producing different chemicals. - Extend the stability of biological systems for continuous production. - Implement approaches for switchable production in an industrially-relevant biomanufacturing system.

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E/WP-01/a0

### Biological Undersea Energy

**FY2027 planned work.** - Increase power generation from conversion of organic matter compared to initial brassboard systems. - Validate that final brassboard systems can perform in stakeholder domains.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The FY 2027 decrease reflects a shift in focus from technology development and prototype building activities to final field testing and analysis.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Perform a Biosafety Design and Analysis for each initial brassboard system in development to assess all required biosafety control measures employed by the systems. - Finalize initial brassboard system designs that will be used for field demonstration. - Complete a technology field demonstration to demonstrate conversion of organic matter to electrical power in the marine domain. - Test and evaluate initial brassboard system.

### Biotechnology for Challenging Environments

**FY2027 planned work.** - Perform operationally relevant field testing of selected test materials. - Conduct post-field-testing laboratory analysis to characterize performance for key stakeholder use cases.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The FY 2027 decrease reflects a shift to field testing and post analysis of limited, high priority applications.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Initiate studies of interactions with biological systems for demonstrating safety. - Optimize molecules and materials for performance in extreme cold weather. - Scale-up molecules and materials for laboratory scale testing and evaluation.

### Field Forward Biothreat Storage Solutions for Force Protection

**FY2027 planned work.** - Down-select technologies for continued development based on test results and demonstrator performance.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The FY 2027 decrease reflects a shift toward infield testing and targeted tech stress testing.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Review demonstrator system design(s) and down-select technologies for continued development. - Acquire a greater diversity of microbes as well as real-world samples to test storage and retrieval methods. - Demonstrate ability to store and retrieve multiple microbes without a cold chain for a sustained duration. - Demonstrate that the system can operate in at least one austere condition.

### Strengthening Resilient Emotions and Nimble Cognition Through Engineering Neuroplasticity (STRENGTHEN)

**FY2027 planned work.** - Conduct large-scale validation studies of optimized Cognitive Flexibility and Emotional Regulation interventions across diverse warfighter populations to establish deployment readiness.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The FY 2027 decrease reflects a shift from model optimization to validation studies.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Revise the mechanistic models of Cognitive Flexibility and Emotional Regulation to re-test predictive validity and optimize the model's ability to predict a behavioral response. - Assess brain network models in all three risk populations (low risk, at risk, high risk). - Refine and tailor hybrid interventions to maximize synergistic and sustaining mental health benefits for each target population (low risk, at risk, high risk).

### Materiel Protection through Biologics

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The FY 2027 decrease reflects program completion.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Validate that models can predict microbial communities and/or fiber-based approaches after two months. - Identify microbial communities and/or fiber-based approaches that produce and maintain a desired function in the field. - Verify microbial communities and/or fiber-based approaches are either resistant or resilient to multiple perturbations in the field.

### Environmental Microbes as a Bioengineering Resource (EMBER)

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The FY 2027 decrease reflects program completion.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Demonstrate separation and efficient recovery of at least eight individual REEs with high purity starting from mining partner source material using a biomining approach.

## What is NOT on this page

Congressional marks, the R-2 mission description and acquisition strategy, the industry vs government split of the whole request, and related program elements are recorded at **program-element** grain — an NDAA mark lands on a PE, never on a project. They are at https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602024E.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0602024E project WP-01 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0602024E")`.

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