# Project BB4 — Dismounted Soldier Survivability Materials

**Program element:** 0602143A — Soldier Lethality Technology  
**Project:** BB4  
**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/0602143A/BB4  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602143A

## Summary

Project BB4 — Dismounted Soldier Survivability Materials requests $12.2M in FY2027, 18% of the $68.0M requested for program element 0602143A, up 156% on FY2026. 1 R-2A activity decomposes the request.

## Funding profile

| 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 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0602143A; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## 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).

## Activities (R-2A) — 1

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dismounted Soldier Survivability Materials | 4.3 | 4.8 | 12.2 | +156% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602143A/BB4/a0) |

> 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.

### Dismounted Soldier Survivability Materials

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…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602143A/BB4/a0

## 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/0602143A.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0602143A project BB4 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0602143A")`.

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