# Lethality Technology — Program Element 0602141A

**Program element:** 0602141A  
**Component:** U.S. Army  
**Appropriation:** 2040 — RDT&E, Army  
**Budget Activity:** 2 — Applied Research  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602141A

## Summary

U.S. Army funding ramps 32% to a $232.0M request in FY2027 — the program's peak, before stepping down 48% across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House added 3.2% (to $239.5M); the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators added 19% (to $277.0M).

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 112.7 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 176.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 232.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 113.3 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 109.6 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 120.3 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 121.6 |

> 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 | 232.0 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 239.5 | +7.5 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 232.0 | +0.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 277.0 | +45.0 |

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

## Projects (12)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CJ7 | Future Air Defense Missile Enabling Tech | 4.5 | 4.3 | 120.7 | +2715% |
| AH6 | Disruptive Energetics and Propulsion Technologies | 9.5 | 5.0 | 27.6 | +451% |
| AH9 | Advanced Warheads Technology | 25.3 | 27.6 | 26.2 | −5% |
| DN6 | Science of Massed Responsive Fires | — | 20.4 | 20.6 | +1% |
| CZ9 | Foundational Hypersonic Weapons Research | 10.7 | 11.2 | 15.2 | +35% |
| CG4 | Advanced Radar Concepts and Technologies | 8.1 | 10.6 | 14.3 | +35% |
| CF8 | Terminal Effects Against Critical Targets Tech | 1.4 | 5.1 | 5.9 | +15% |
| CIC | Fire Control Lethality Technology | 2.9 | 1.5 | 1.5 | +1% |
| BS6 | Lethality Technology (CA) | 34.0 | 79.0 | — | −100% |
| CF7 | Solid-state Laser Concepts and Architectures | 8.8 | 7.8 | — | −100% |
| CJ1 | Lethality Enabling University Applied Research | 7.5 | 3.6 | — | −100% |
| CIA | Applied Armaments Tech for Distributed Lethality | — | 0.0 | — | −100% |

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

### Project CJ7 — Future Air Defense Missile Enabling Tech

This project investigates, develops, and evaluates critical missile technologies and components necessary for advanced lethal capability in support of future/mid to far term affordable short range air defense interceptor capability to defeat Cruise Missile (CM), Rotary Wing (RW), Tactical / Lethal Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), and Fixed Wing (FW) threats. This effort designs and develops technologies to provide advanced materials, seekers, guidance and control, and propulsion for reduced size weight and power and cost for Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (MSHORAD), Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD), and Lower Tier essential to maintain overmatch against mid-/far-term threats. This project will investigate, identify and develop advanced radar concepts, technologies and signal processing algorithms to enable multi-mission radar functions and expanded threat capability. This project supports Air and Missile Defense Modernization priority efforts. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0602147A (Long Range Precision Fires Technology) / Project AF3 (Extended Range Propulsion Technology) and Project AF8 (Affordable Extended Range Precision Technology), PE 0603135A / Counter Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-SUAS) Advanced Techno logy/ Project A32 / Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft Sys (C-sUAS) Adv, and PE 0602135A / Counter Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-SUAS) Applied Research / Project A31 / Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft Sys (C-sUAS) Tech. Work in this project is performed by the Aviation & Missile Center (AvMC).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Future Air Defense Missile Enabling Technology | 4.5 | 4.3 | 120.7 |

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

### Project AH6 — Disruptive Energetics and Propulsion Technologies

This project investigates, models, and assesses energetic material and propulsion technologies to validate novel concepts such as maximizing total energy density and power delivered on target. This project also optimizes propellant grains for increased range and altering gun configurations to increase energy on target in order to exploit the controllable/scalable energy release required for improving effectiveness and reducing vulnerability of future gun/missile systems. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0601102A (Defense Research Sciences) / Project AA7 (Mechanics and Ballistics), PE 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project AH7 (Lethality and Scalable Effects Technologies), PE 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project AH8 (Lethality Materials and Processes Technology), and PE 0602144A (Ground Technology) / Project BL1 (Materials and Manufacturing Research Technology) Work in this project is performed by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and Chemical Biological Center (CBC).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesis, Formulation, Modeling, and Diagnostics of Energetic Materials for Explosive and Propellant Applications | 9.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Synthetic Biomanufactured Energetics | — | — | 22.7 |

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

### Project AH9 — Advanced Warheads Technology

This project explores multiple pathways to enhance lethal efforts for future warheads against emerging peer/near peer target sets and investigates synergistic effects of novel micro warheads using advanced materials. This project investigates innovative energetic materials and novel processing techniques for the next generation of explosives and propulsion applications to enable an increase in range, lethality, and utility of munitions. It also directly supports Army Modernization Priorities through researching and developing energetic (propellant) technologies and processes for increased performance, expanded operation temperature bounds, and improved safety and environmental compliance of missile systems. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0602145A (Next Generation Combat Vehicle Technology) / Project BK5 (Adv Direct In-Direct Armament Sys (ADIDAS) Tech) and PE 0603464A (Long Range Precision Fires Advanced Technology) / Project CE9 (Armaments Advanced Technology). Work in this project is performed by the Armaments Center.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Pyrotechnics | 2.7 | 3.2 | — |
| Next Generation Warheads Technology | 10.4 | 11.4 | — |
| Next Generation Energetics Technology | 12.2 | 13.0 | — |
| Next Generation Energetics and Warheads Applied Tech | — | — | 23.2 |
| Blast Over Pressure (BOP) Toolkit | — | — | 3.0 |

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

### Project DN6 — Science of Massed Responsive Fires

This project supports research on munitions, kinetic and non-kinetic payloads, and weapons in energetics, propulsion, flight, guidance, warheads, guns, material science, and electromagnetic device packages and sensors. This project also supports research in novel energetic materials and energetic monomer/polymer synthesis, composable design science, models for gun wear and erosion, and the development of algorithms, frameworks, and toolsets for cost-effective collaborative autonomous delivery of weapons. Electronic (e.g., jamming, spoofing) and kinetic (e.g., intercept) counters that disrupt nodes of defeat are within adversary reach. Enablers delivered in this research project provide entirely new approaches of dynamically adapting multi-functional systems of weapon systems (beyond improvements to field/air defense and cannon/missile artillery) and the means to physically realize this capability at relevant speed and size scales in collapsed formations to defeat complex, rapidly changing threats at depth. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) PE 0601102A (Defense Research Sciences) / Project AA7 (Mechanics and Ballistics), PE 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project AH6 (Disruptive Energetics and Propulsion Technologies), and PE 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project CZ9 (Foundational Hypersonic Weapons Research). This Project transitions to PE 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project AH9 (Advanced Warheads Technology), PE 0602147A (Long Range Precision Fires Technology) / Project AG4 (Extended Range Artillery Munition Suite Technology), PE 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project CI1 (Advanced Armaments Lethality Technology), PE 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project CIA (Applied Armaments Tech for Distributed Lethality), PE 0602147A (Long Range Precision Fires Technology) / Project AF8 (Affordable Extended Range Precision Technology), PE 0603464A (Long Range Precision Fires Advanced Technology) / Project CZ8 (PrSM Modular Payload Advanced Development), and PE 0603464A (Long Range Precision Fires Advanced Technology) / Project BY2 (Advanced Hypersonics Technology). Work in this project is performed by Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dense Energetic Materials Science | — | 1.1 | — |
| Mechanisms, Materials, and Processing for Lethality | — | 3.6 | — |
| Threat-Responsive Dynamic Munition Sciences for Survivability and Delivered Effects | — | 5.8 | 6.0 |
| Distributed, Dense, Multifunctional Architectures for Munitions | — | 10.0 | — |
| Dense Energetic Materials Science and Multifunctional Munitions | — | — | 14.7 |

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

### Project CZ9 — Foundational Hypersonic Weapons Research

This project investigates foundational problems associated with high-speed weapons and informs the future strategic fires echelon of Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF) capabilities. This project funds the research of material science subjects such as extreme thermal loading and aero-thermodynamics and control technologies for high- speed vehicles which may encounter high mechanical loads at launch. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0601102A (Defense Research Sciences) / Project AA7 (Mechanics and Ballistics) and PE 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project AH6 (Disruptive Energetics and Propulsion Technologies), Project AH7 (Lethal and Scalable Effects Technologies), and Project AH8 (Lethality Materials and Processes Technology), PE 0602144A (Ground Technology) / Project BL1 (Materials and Manufacturing Research Technology), and PE 0602145A (Next Generation Combat Vehicle) / Project BI4 (Materials Application and Integration Tech). Work in this project is performed by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Technical Center.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundational Hypersonic Weapon Materials | 6.3 | 6.3 | — |
| Foundational Hypersonic Weapons Flight and Control | 2.4 | 3.0 | — |
| Foundational Hypersonic System Component | 2.0 | 1.9 | 4.4 |
| Foundational Hypersonics | — | — | 10.8 |

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

### Project CG4 — Advanced Radar Concepts and Technologies

This project conducts experiments on single crystal diamond and diamond hetero-structure semiconductor materials, layered structures, and novel devices for Diamond Electronics and integrated photonics structures and devices for Radar, Communications, and improved Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) Department of War systems. Efforts include multiscale modeling, material and structure growth and characterization, and novel device design and fabrication as well as two-dimensional (2-D) electronics for bio-inspired neuromorphic sensors, processors, and memory. This research has application to radars, communication systems, electronic warfare, directed energy, electronics for hypersonic systems, radiation hard systems, quantum sensing, and others. This project directly supports Air and Missile Defense modernization priority capabilities by investigating essential component technologies for insertion into Multi-Mission Army Radar systems. This project addresses the challenges of integrating new materials into Silicon Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) processing flows, and electronics reliability including protection against unintended adversarial use of state-of-the-art semiconductor materials, devices, and systems for Air and Missile Defense in contested environments. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0603466A (Air and Missile Defense Advanced Technology) Project AD6 (Next Generation Fires Radar Advanced Technology). Work in this project is performed by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antennas and Radio Frequency (RF) Device Components for Advanced Electronic Systems | 5.1 | 3.7 | 4.3 |
| Distributed Radar Architectures | 1.5 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| Radar Digital Twin (EXHILARAMA) | 1.5 | 3.0 | 6.1 |

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

### Project CF8 — Terminal Effects Against Critical Targets Tech

This project designs and develops engineering tools and high-fidelity modeling and simulation capabilities for materials and structural response to predict and enhance weapons performance to ensure lethality against structures and critical assets. Through dynamic impact experiments for a broad range of velocities against conventional and advanced structural materials, this project develops engineering tools and technologies to rapidly evaluate and predict weapon performance. Computational chemistry will be utilized to explore potential prediction and optimization pathways of high-energy density material formulations. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0603116A (Lethality Advanced Technology) / Project CH5 (Terminal Effects Against Critical Targets Adv Tech). Work in this project is performed by the United States Engineer Research and Development Center Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptive Technologies for Advanced Weapons | 1.0 | 5.1 | 4.1 |
| Computational Chemistry Prediction of Influence of CL-20 Polymorphism on Energetic Formulations | 0.4 | — | 1.8 |

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

### Project CIC — Fire Control Lethality Technology

Work in this project researches, investigates and develops concepts for common open architecture fire control systems to maximize distributed armament systems performance. Researches fire control architecture framework and protocols utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to minimize target engagement timelines, reduce cognitive processes, and enable collaborative lethal effectiveness on target across weapon platforms. Develops modular fire control concepts enabling safe, lethal, and agile integration of current systems to engage emerging threats and decrease system vulnerabilities for maximize performance and combined arms effects. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0602141A Lethality Technology/ Applied Armaments Tech for Distributed Lethality, PE 0603462A Next Generation Combat Vehicle Advanced Technology/ Next Generation Intelligent Fire Control, and PE 0602183A Air Platform Applied Research/ Airborne Threat Defeat Work in this project is performed by the Armaments Center.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Future Fire Control Tech (F2CT) | 2.9 | — | — |
| Fire Control Lethality Technology | — | 1.5 | 1.5 |

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

### Project BS6 — Lethality Technology (CA)

Congressional Interest Item funding provided for Lethality Technology.

### Project CF7 — Solid-state Laser Concepts and Architectures

This project provides the research and development of advanced solid-state laser materials and architectures to support the Army Directed Energy Strategy for laser- based directed energy (DE) weapons. This project investigates advanced laser technologies based on unconventional solid-state laser concepts and designs, scalable and intelligent power modules, and advanced thermal management systems for the development of less complex, low size, weight, and power (SWaP) Army DE weapons and tactical lasers with much improved capabilities. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0603466A (Air and Missile Defense Technology) / Project CV6 (Optimized High Energy Laser Source Adv Tech). Work in this project is performed by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Energy Laser (HEL) Enabling Technologies for Tactical Directed Energy Weapons | 2.2 | 2.3 | — |
| Advanced High Energy Laser Technology | 6.6 | 5.6 | — |

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

### Project CJ1 — Lethality Enabling University Applied Research

The project leverages research and technological innovations from academia, of lethal directed energy, laser diagnostics and accelerated design of future hypersonics, deep learning (DL) guidance tools, novel materials, and emerging technologies of importance to the Army, by accelerating research and conducting experiments focused on getting technology to the warfighter more quickly. This project performs discovery research efforts to focus more on mid to far-term Army modernization priorities while also maintaining delivery of near-term technologies critical to the Long Range Precision Fires and Air and Missile Defense. This project focuses on employment of research technologies originating from extramural applied research in academia pertaining to lethal directed energy, laser diagnostics, future hypersonic glide body and scramjet propulsor design, DL guidance tools, novel materials, and expansion of the Ballistic, Aero-Optics and Materials (BAM) range applied to lethality. This effort conducts applied research and development leading to potential emerging technologies in areas of importance to the Army in directed energy, future hypersonic glide body design, DL and novel materials, etc., by bringing competitively selected universities with research and development teams into technical alliances. Work in this project complements Program Element (PE) 0602141A (Lethality Technology) / Project CZ9 (Foundational Hypersonic Weapons Research), PE 0602150A (Air and Missile Defense Technology) / Project DC1 (Next Generation DE Concept Development & Analysis), PE 0603116A (Lethality Advanced Technology) / Project CG2 (Lethality Enabling University Adv Development), and PE 0603464A (Long Range Precision Fires Advanced Technology) / Project BY2 (Advanced Hypersonic Technology). Work in this project is performed by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laser Diagnostics for Hypersonics and Directed Energy | 2.3 | 1.5 | — |
| Turbulence and Transition Modeling and Validation for Hypersonic Vehicles | 3.2 | — | — |
| Novel Materials for Extreme Environments | 1.5 | 2.1 | — |
| Intelligent Hypersonics and Other Vehicle Systems | 0.5 | — | — |

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

### Project CIA — Applied Armaments Tech for Distributed Lethality

This project investigates technologies that holistically maximize armament performance, minimize target engagement timelines, reduce crew workloads, enhance responsiveness and enable collaborative lethal effectiveness on target across distributed platforms & missions. This project researches cross caliber weapon, munition & fire-control technologies to enhance Remote Weapon Systems (RWS) responsiveness and single or combined platform lethality in Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) environments. Work in this project is performed by the Armaments Center.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Agnostic Armaments Applied Tech | — | 0.0 | — |

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

## Mission & acquisition strategy

Work done in this Program Element (PE) supports research technologies, methodologies, and models required to enable next generation lethality. The effort focuses on: lethal mechanism technologies for projectiles and warheads that provide revolutionary capability to defeat Tier 1 adversary vehicle and body armors; selection of propulsion and energetic materials and technology to validate novel energetic materials concepts to exploit controllable energy release for future gun/missile systems; scalable effects for mixed target defeat while simultaneously decreasing warhead mass; development of materials solutions for improvement of weight and volume efficiency, lethal effects and…

## Related program elements

- [0603116A — Lethality Advanced Technology](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603116A) (Army)
- [0603882C — Ballistic Missile Defense Midcourse Defense Segment](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603882C) (Defense-Wide)
- [0708051F — Rapid Sustainment Modernization Technologies](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0708051F) (Air Force)
- [0101328F — ICBM Reentry Vehicles](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0101328F) (Air Force)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0602141A (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0602141A")`.

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