# Project BF9 — Sensors for Autonomous Operations and Surv Tech

**Program element:** 0602145A — Next Generation Combat Vehicle Technology  
**Project:** BF9  
**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/0602145A/BF9  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602145A

## Summary

Project BF9 — Sensors for Autonomous Operations and Surv Tech requests $23.0M in FY2027, 33% of the $70.5M requested for program element 0602145A, down 0.8% on FY2026. 4 R-2A activities decompose the request, 1 new this cycle.

**Markets:** Uncrewed & Autonomy — matched on the project title only, and no market size is quoted.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 24.7 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 23.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 23.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 27.4 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 32.4 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 29.7 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 30.5 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0602145A; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project BF9 buys

This project designs and develops modular and adaptive sensor components, novel embedded processing approaches, innovative threat cueing solutions and novel multi-function sensor payloads integrated with novel signal image processing techniques to provide improved manned and unmanned ground vehicle situational understanding in all environments. This project will also investigate and develop techniques to detect maneuver obstacles, to include explosive hazards, tank ditches, and concrete blockades. This research is coordinated with Program Element (PE) 0603462A (Next Generation Combat Vehicle Advanced Technology), PE 0603118A (Soldier Lethality Advanced Technology), PE 0602143A (Soldier Lethality Technology), PE 0602148A (Future Vertical Lift Technology) and PE 0603465A (Future Vertical Lift Advanced Technology). Work in this project is performed by the Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

## Activities (R-2A) — 4

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensors, Electronics and Processing Approaches for Situational Awareness, Maneuver, and Threat Overmatch | — | — | 23.0 | new | [a3](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602145A/BF9/a3) |
| Advanced Sensors with Embedded Processing | 16.3 | 15.5 | — | −100% | — |
| Sensors, Electronics and Processing Approaches for Threat Overmatch | 8.4 | 4.2 | — | −100% | — |
| Advanced Technologies for Countermine in Complex Environments | — | 3.5 | — | −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.

### Sensors, Electronics and Processing Approaches for Situational Awareness, Maneuver, and Threat Overmatch — NEW START

Will determine optimal optical modulator technologies with high-bandwidth data transmission and high stability at cryogenic temperatures for integration with digital read-out integrated circuit (ROIC); validate laser sources coupled with photonic integrated circuits; continue performance assessments and maturation of embedded processing…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602145A/BF9/a3

### Advanced Sensors with Embedded Processing

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding decrease reflects realignment to Sensors, Electronics and Processing Approaches for Situational Awareness, Maneuver, and Threat Overmatch within this project to continue the maturation of advanced processing capabilities.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Will investigate optical modulator technologies for integration with digital readout integrated circuits (ROICs) that are capable of high-bandwidth data transmission and high stability at cryogenic temperature operation. Will investigate laser sources to couple with photonic integrated circuits that show high temperature stability and enable high data transfer rates. Will investigate size, weight, and power (SWAP)-optimized Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA)-compliant hardware implementations of neuromorphic and other advanced artificial intelligence processing devices. Will investigate emerging components that reduce platform SWAP and enhance mission effectiveness of Army platforms through application of embedded and highly efficient edge-based sensor processing. Will investigate and mature supplemental image processing capabilities for aggregating targets and resolving ambiguity from multiple detections of the same target from different platforms and sensors to establish an clear common operating picture. Will determine design parameters of advanced ROIC for uncooled thermal sensors with hardware-integrated capabilities, such as snapshot and external triggers, that are optimized for machine-vision applications. Will improve pixel pitch for uncooled thermal sensors, enabling higher resolution sensors at lower size, weight, power, and cost (SWAP-C), as well as multi-sensor solutions. Will investigate advanced electronics for uncooled long-wavelength (LWIR) thermal sensors to couple with time-correlated algorithms for image stabilization and correcting image blur while on-the-move.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Will develop dual-band, high dynamic range digital readout integrate circuits (DROICs) with enhanced sensitivity at smaller semiconductor foundry processing nodes that contain standardized control and output formats for all-digital sensor system solutions; continue to develop full resolution cooled DROICs for integration with avalanche photodiode (APD) detectors at smaller pixel pitches (size), capable of enhanced sensitivity at faster frame rates to enable covert target geo-location capabilities. Will validate preliminary design and mature a detailed design of at-sensor processing hardware components to improve performance and size, weight, power, and cost (SWAP-C) of image processing for Army sensor applications. Will investigate board-level Modular Open System Approaches (MOSA) configurations for the advanced processing components to enable more complex processing at the sensor. Will investigate suitability of other emerging commercial processing technologies for low-SWAP-C sensors. Will validate a reasoning software module using scene information and meta-data to reduce high-confidence false alarms. Will mature the reasoning software module framework and hardware components, ensuring compliance with a transitioning Aided Target Detection and Recognition (AiTDR) Interface Control Document (ICD). Will develop additional capabilities for the reasoning software module that enhance target confidence and battlefield context using external sources of data or meta-data (e.g., blue force tracking). Will design and develop mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) capable microbolometer sensor hardware through semiconductor processes for hostile fire detection. Will investigate pixel size, resolution, noise parameters, and thermal time constant specifications in MWIR and long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) microbolometer sensors for counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) applications.

### Sensors, Electronics and Processing Approaches for Threat Overmatch

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding decrease reflects realignment to Sensors, Electronics and Processing Approaches for Situational Awareness, Maneuver, and Threat Overmatch within this project to continue the maturation of advanced processing capabilities.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Will validate the use of multiple sensor modalities together with new algorithms to improve automated threat recognition. Will mature and validate techniques using additional data from multispectral cameras on an unmanned aerial system to recognize maneuver threats in highly cluttered environments, expanding the recognition capability currently demonstrated in low vegetation environments.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Will conduct experiments using multiple sensor modalities to support the development and training of algorithms to improve automated threat detection. Will investigate and develop new processing approaches and methods using location and position data from multi-spectral and high definition polarized EO/IR sensor components to improve target detection and location accuracy from an unmanned aerial system (UAS). Will develop new image formation and processing techniques to improve target detection performance using radar antennas mounted on a small UAS.

### Advanced Technologies for Countermine in Complex Environments

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding decrease reflects realignment to Sensors, Electronics and Processing Approaches for Situational Awareness, Maneuver, and Threat Overmatch within this project to continue the maturation of advanced processing capabilities.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Will investigate automated pattern recognition, and spatial association techniques to detect obstacles utilizing existing imagery of realistic, complex environments. Will collect geospatial imagery to determine effectiveness of detection techniques. Will investigate methods to insert techniques into a multi-domain common operating picture.

## 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/0602145A.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0602145A project BF9 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0602145A")`.

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