# Project CU7 — Control & Autonomy for Tactical Superiority Tech

**Program element:** 0602183A — Air Platform Applied Research  
**Project:** CU7  
**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/0602183A/CU7  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602183A

## Summary

Project CU7 — Control & Autonomy for Tactical Superiority Tech requests $10.4M in FY2027, 24% of the $43.7M requested for program element 0602183A, up 26% on FY2026. 3 R-2A activities decompose the request.

**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 | 5.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 8.3 |
| FY2027 | Request | 10.4 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 15.3 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 15.9 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 15.1 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 15.0 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0602183A; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project CU7 buys

This project will develop and flight-validate new approaches and tools applicable to advanced high-speed configurations being considered for Future Vertical Lift (FVL) and transition to industry to ensure that FVL aircraft meet Army requirements. Work in this project may also address and be applied to the needs of other Army and specific DoW aviation systems. Research in this project is fully coordinated with PE 0603043A (Air Platform Advanced Technology) / Project CV1 (Control & Autonomy for Tactical Superiority Adv). Work in this project is performed by Aviation & Missile Center (AvMC).

## Activities (R-2A) — 3

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptive Tactical Autonomy and Control (ATAC) Tech | 5.2 | 6.2 | 5.6 | −10% | — |
| Autonomy for Combat Environment Sustainment (ACES) | — | 1.7 | 3.9 | +132% | — |
| Perception Enhanced Autonomous Control (PEAC) | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 | +148% | — |

> 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.

### Adaptive Tactical Autonomy and Control (ATAC) Tech

**FY2027 planned work.** Will extend AvMC's high-fidelity flight-dynamics modeling tool to incorporate improved aerodynamic interaction models; investigate flight control system concepts and flying qualities requirements for Launched Effects (LE).

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding decrease reflects reduction in flight-dynamics modeling and the planned conclusion of this effort in FY27.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Will add external load modeling capability to AvMC's high-fidelity flight-dynamics modeling tool; develop Explicit Model Following (EMF) baseline control laws for AvMC's RASCAL-X flying laboratory to allow it to mimic flight characteristics of other helicopters; implement AvMC's autonomy algorithms on Tactical Resupply Vehicle family of UAVs.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Will update AvMCs high-fidelity flight-dynamics modeling tool to run in real time with selectable levels of fidelity. Will develop methods for using estimation to compensate for failed sensors to enable graceful degradation. Will continue developing handling qualities requirements for high-speed flight.

### Autonomy for Combat Environment Sustainment (ACES)

**FY2027 planned work.** Will explore/assess autonomy algorithms from industry for future testing on AvMC UH-60Mx flying laboratory; develop autonomy framework that leverages best autonomous technologies/capabilities from across the enterprise.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding increase reflects the assessment of industry autonomy algorithms and the development of an autonomy framework that exploits the best Army and industry autonomous technologies.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Will configure AvMC's autonomy algorithms for implementation on AvMC's UH-60Mx flying laboratory; develop interfaces needed to integrate AvMC's autonomy algorithms with the existing flight control system of AvMC's UH-60Mx flying laboratory.

### Perception Enhanced Autonomous Control (PEAC)

**FY2027 planned work.** Will develop Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) vision-based navigation algorithms and train using flight test data; develop sensor-based data and digital terrain elevation data fusion methods.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding increase to continue development of perception technologies and for additional personnel.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Will add autonomous Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS) to AvMC's suite of autonomy algorithms; enhance AvMC's autonomy algorithms to use perception to act on critical information not encoded in sensor data.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Will conduct research into sensor range, field of view, and performance needed for high-speed flight. Will start evaluating non-emitting sensors for position determination and autonomous navigation.

## 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/0602183A.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0602183A project CU7 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0602183A")`.

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