What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 622401 of PE 0602203F. 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 the development of new optimization design methods resulting in tool technology development for linking of vehicle system requirements to military utility and mission performance for effectiveness-based design. Activities include: -Development of structural design optimization methods incorporating fabrication constraints yielding full scale vehicle structures. Feature based topology optimization methods, development and design tool development, design studies, and experimental validation. -Integrating differentiable mission analyses into the air vehicle design process for scaled aeroelastic testing capabilities for flexible flying wings. Continue the integration of model-based systems engineering design tools for tracking of design requirements to vehicle attributes for requirements driven decision making. Activities include: -Refining and implementing the government reference architectures and the common access design/analysis database. Continue the development of advanced, high fidelity, aerodynamic analysis tools for aircraft conceptual design technology development via rapid exploration of the mission requirement / vehicle performance trade space in an integrated design process. Activities include: -Optimizing clean sheet design techniques enhanced by integrating advanced munition separation modeling. Continue the assessment of innovative next generation vehicle concepts developing tools to identify concepts with the highest potential to enhance system performance aligned to capability needs. Activities include: -Evaluating fused experimental data with computational results to yield rapid concept modeling to include aeroelastic design considerations to enable integrated research capabilities for aero-propulsive design and design-interfaced control models for system level evaluation. Continue structures technology development for affordable mass with design tools to yield tool technology development via higher performance with unique material integration techniques and digital tools for certification. Activities include: -Refining component designs and integration for manufacturing, component build, and rigorous testing. Continue development of methods for expanded analysis and design exploration for integrated systems' interaction in aerospace vehicles via risk-quantified technology investment validated with experimentation. Activities include: -Optimizing the design process through incorporation of experimental data assimilation and optimal subsystem packaging to include efficient multi-fidelity aeroelastic/aero-propulsive optimization. Complete the assessment, development, and incorporation of active flow control techniques for mission utility informed, aircraft vehicle design configurations. Activities include: -Control modeling with confirmation via experimental validation, rapid small-scale flight experimentation, and aero response via metamaterials. Commence the development of a mission-driven, integrated digital design methodology, process, and associated tools that capture medium-fidelity physics for key disciplines yielding system designs that are optimized for operational use early in the development cycle. Activities include: -Integration of critical mission requirements for the design process, medium-fidelity extensions to the design architecture, and design studies.
FY 2027 decreased compared to FY 2026 by $8.827 million due to programmatic adjustments to the DAF Science and Technology portfolio. This reduction reflects a strategic realignment to optimize core research areas and improve resource efficiency.
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 the development of new optimization design methods resulting in tool technology development for linking of vehicle system requirements to military utility and mission performance for effectiveness-based design; -Activities include creating differentiable mission analyses integrated into the air vehicle design process. Continue the integration of model-based systems engineering design tools for tracking of design requirements to vehicle attributes for requirements driven decision making; -Activities include developing government reference architectures and creating a common access design/analysis database. Continue the development of advanced, high fidelity, aerodynamic analysis tools for aircraft conceptual design technology development via rapid exploration of the mission requirement / vehicle performance trade space in an integrated design process; -Activities include effectiveness based clean sheet design and munition separation analyses. Continue the assessment of innovative next generation vehicle concepts developing tools to identify concepts with the highest potential to enhance system performance aligned to capability needs; -Activities include fusion of experimental data with computational results to yield rapid concept modeling. Continue the assessment, development, and incorporation of active flow control techniques for mission utility informed, aircraft vehicle design configurations; -Activities include active flow control modeling with confirmation via experimental validation. Complete digital and systems engineering assessments to yield design tools for advanced airframe structures; -Activities include developing a digital airworthiness model linked to design and analysis for demonstration on an unmanned air system. Complete the development of advanced high fidelity aircraft design tools to yield faster, more complete advanced aircraft designs with measures of effectiveness; -Activities include development and validation of analytical solutions for design configurations that simultaneously evaluate combined aerodynamic, structural and thermal parameter effects. Complete the validation of innovative structural design methods for optimization to confirm design tools for reduced weight and complexity of aircraft structures using innovative manufacturing processes; -Activities include performing experimental validation of resulting structural demonstration articles. Complete digital modeling and simulation development yielding tool technology development for assessment of various drag reduction technologies; -Activities include aerodynamic analyses validated via experiment. Complete the technology maturation of long-endurance unmanned aircraft vehicle design via exploitation of innovative wing lift distribution and aerial maneuvering for a tailless aircraft; -Activities include in-house component modelling and prototyping. Commence structures technology development for affordable mass with design tools to yield tool technology development via higher performance with unique material integration techniques and digital tools for certification; - Activities include component design for manufacturing with component build and structural validation test. Commence development of methods for expanded analysis and design exploration for integrated systems' interaction in aerospace vehicles via risk-quantified technology investment validated with experimentation; -Activities include data assimilation to incorporate experimental results into the design process, and methodology development to optimally package and integrate subsystems within the airframe.
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 | 0.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 34.5 |
| FY2027 | Request | 25.7 |
This activity is 47% of project 622401's FY2027 request and 6.5% of PE 0602203F'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.
7 activities in project 622401
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.