What project BB4 buys
This project investigates fibers, textiles, components, and materials focused on enhancing Soldier survivability from combat threats (flame and thermal, blast and ballistic, multispectral sensor, and laser threats) and environmental threats (e.g., cold, heat, wet, vector, antimicrobial, etc.) to increase operational effectiveness while decreasing the Soldier's physical and cognitive burden. The results from this project will transition knowledge, materials, subcomponents and methods to Advanced Technology Development efforts in support of enhancing Soldier Lethality by providing protective material solutions focused on the aspects of dismounted movement and maneuver operations of the Army. This project develops and applies validation methods that enable systematic studies of human systems integration principles and practices to protective equipment materials and designs to advance the understanding of trade-offs between protection, lethality, and mobility. Work in this project supports key Army needs and leverages/complements the technical research of several Program Elements (PEs) to include PE 0601102A (Defense Research Sciences), PE 0602143A (Soldier Lethality Technology) / Project AZ5 (Soldier Protection Technology - Vulnerability), and PE 0603118A Soldier Lethality Advanced Technology / Project BB3 (Dismounted Soldier Survivability Equip/Tech Integ). Work in this project is performed by the Soldier Center (SC) and Army Research Laboratory (ARL).
Project BB4 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 | 4.3 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 4.8 |
| FY2027 | Request | 12.2 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 18.3 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 21.7 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 21.9 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 22.1 |
1 accomplishment / planned program
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. Each describes FY2027 work in enough detail to have its own page; the rest are shown here in full. Coverage is partial across the corpus, so count activities, never total them.
Will investigate and mature advanced technologies to enhance Soldier survivability by integrating ballistic and non-ballistic protection, blast debris mitigation, flame resistance, vector protection, and environmental protection into textiles and protective equipment; design camouflage and concealment materials identified for extreme…
Read the FY2027 plan →