What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 625329 of PE 0602202F. This is the budget justification's own description of work that has not happened yet — the one thing no other level of the budget carries.
-Continue research on human-centric interfaces by designing and testing concepts that convey AI confidence and uncertainty metrics to support rapid, accurate human-machine team decisions. -Continue research on advanced, multi-domain battlespace visualization by developing and evaluating novel C2/battle management interfaces that dynamically integrate kinetic and non-kinetic effects. -Continue research on next-generation interfaces for tactical platforms through expert operator evaluations of effects-based tactical displays, expanding from single-seat fighters to multicrew and optionally-piloted aircraft. -Complete the identification of interface implications for cognitive warfare by preparing and delivering the final report. -Complete research into strategies for closed-loop system adaptations based on operator workload, concluding with a final report. -Complete research on continuous planning techniques and AI-enabled planning tools, culminating in a final report.
FY 2027 increased compared to FY 2026 by 2.542 million to advance mission-specific human-machine interfaces and AI tools for intelligence analysts. This increase will fund the design of new concepts that convey AI confidence to the operator, the advancement of multi-domain C2 visualization, and the expansion of research to multicrew and optionally-piloted aircraft.
FY2026: the year under way
Prior-year accomplishments and current-year plans from the same exhibit. Context for the FY2027 plan, not a series — an activity partitions its project exactly in the request year, but can under-cover it in earlier years.
-Continue research on human-centric interfaces and AI transparency, including designing and testing interactions with in-house large language models and finalizing results from data collections on non-image data classification for improved AI/ automation transparency across different mission applications. -Continue research into strategies that optimize closed-loop system adaptations to an operator's functional state, using high-fidelity ISR mission tasks to refine and validate interface augmentation strategies. -Continue research on advanced battlespace visualization techniques in complex environments, apply lessons learned to new warfighting domains, and accelerate research for high-priority DAF systems. -Commence research on continuous planning tools and AI-enabled interfaces that streamline and strengthen multi-player plan development and assessment, using workflow analytics and decision-support systems to enhance operational tempo. -Commence research to define the interface requirements for cognitive warfare, including conducting cognitive task analyses of information warfare operators and generating initial interface concepts to support command and control (C2) in the information environment. -Commence research on next-generation, standardized interfaces for tactical platforms, including a Test Pilot School evaluation of Command Guidance symbology and flight tests for Large Area Displays and an Air Receiver Decision Aiding System.
Three years, and no five-year plan
An R-2A activity publishes the prior year, the current year and the budget year. The FYDP outyears exist at project and program-element level and are deliberately absent here rather than inferred. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 5.5 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 11.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 13.7 |
This activity is 42% of project 625329's FY2027 request and 13% of PE 0602202F's. In the request year the activities under a project sum to it exactly; in the current year they under-cover it in about 9% of cases, so an activity's delta can legitimately exceed its parent's and the two must not be compared row to row.
5 activities in project 625329
Every R-2A line of this project, largest FY2027 request first. Linked where the activity has enough of its own narrative to carry a page; the rest are shown in full on the project page.