What project 624348 buys
This project develops materials technologies for the Department of the Air Force's Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), situational awareness, and specialty coatings for aerospace platforms and munitions. This includes sensors for microwave, short, mid, and long-wave infrared (SWIR, MWIR, LWIR) detection and countermeasures devices used for targeting, electronic warfare, and active aircraft protection. Electronic and optical materials are being developed to enable surveillance and situational awareness with faster operating speeds, greater tunability, higher power output, improved thermal management (including higher operating temperatures), greater sensitivity, and extended dynamic range. This project develops materials for protection of aircrews, sensors, and aerospace structures from directed energy threats without impairing mission effectiveness. Biotechnological materials are being developed for aerospace structures, resilient basing, energetics and advanced coatings.
Project 624348 funding, 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. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 50.1 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 90.6 |
| FY2027 | Request | 38.5 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 39.8 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 43.0 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 43.9 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 44.7 |
4 accomplishments / planned programs
The R-2A exhibit — the only level of the budget that describes work that has not happened yet. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only, no five-year plan. 3 of them describe FY2027 work in enough detail to have their own page; the rest are shown here in full. Coverage is partial across the corpus, so count activities, never total them.
- Continue the validation and verification of scientific, engineering, and processing methods for domestic bio-production of critical materials including characterization, qualification, demonstration, downstream purification, production scale up, and biomanufacturing. Activities include: -- A focus on natural rubber, fuels, and…
Read the FY2027 plan →- Continue the development, laboratory scale testing, and assessment of low-dimensional carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and superlattice structures for use in high resolution imaging by electromagnetic radiation. Activities include: -- Assessment of focal plane array performance against the state of the art for mission…
Read the FY2027 plan →- Continue the analysis, validation, and demonstration of the viability of inorganic/organic optical coatings, liquid crystal photonics, solid state photonics, and inorganic/organic optical metasurfaces technologies to protect against extreme electromagnetic environments. Activities include: -- Identification and growth of new crystal…
Read the FY2027 plan →FY2027 planned work - Continue the demonstration and validation of semiconductor materials and processing control technologies to generate higher power lasers. Activities include: -- Fabrication and testing to verify key performance parameters. -- Establishment of new test capabilities to better measure properties of materials. -- Development of next generation single crystal fiber lasers and cladding. - Complete the demonstration and modeling of materials processes for controlling laser beam direction and focus with optical components and materials for frequency conversion, high power optical isolators, and mid-wave infrared laser sources for directed energy sources.
FY2026 to FY2027 change Not applicable.
FY2026 plans — current year - Continue the demonstration and validation of semiconductor materials and processing control technologies to generate higher power directed energy lasers for aircraft survivability and other applications. - Continue the demonstration and modeling of materials processes for controlling laser beam direction and focus with optical components and materials for frequency conversion, high power optical isolators, and mid-wave infrared laser sources for directed energy sources.