# Project 622403 — Flight Controls and Pilot-Vehicle Interface

**Program element:** 0602203F — Aerospace Systems Technologies  
**Project:** 622403  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force  
**Appropriation:** 3600 — RDT&E, Air Force  
**Budget Activity:** 2 — Applied Research  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602203F/622403  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602203F

## Summary

Project 622403 — Flight Controls and Pilot-Vehicle Interface requests $67.4M in FY2027, 17% of the $397.8M requested for program element 0602203F, down 11% on FY2026. 5 R-2A activities decompose the request.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 42.7 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 75.5 |
| FY2027 | Request | 67.4 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 83.3 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 90.2 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 93.5 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 95.4 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0602203F; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 622403 buys

This project is dedicated to advancing technologies for manned, remotely piloted, and autonomous aerospace vehicles, with a focus on achieving maximum performance and affordability. The development of advanced control, automation, and autonomy technologies is a key aspect, aiming to deliver safe and efficient vehicle operation and mission execution through the use of digital engineering, flight experimentation, and evaluation. These efforts contribute significantly to the development of reliable autonomous collaborative platforms, high-speed aircraft, and operational aircraft. Furthermore, the project encompasses the design of integrated electrical and thermal management components, controls, and systems for military aerospace applications, ensuring that the power and thermal needs of future aerospace capabilities can be met. By developing controls and system integration technologies, the project also ensures the interoperability of aircraft, power, thermal, engine, and other systems and subsystems, ultimately supporting the development of electrical power and thermal management components, controls, and systems suitable for various aircraft platforms, including autonomous collaborative platforms and future aircraft, while addressing reliability, maintainability, affordability, and supportability. In FY 2026 within PE 0602203F / Aerospace Systems Technologies all efforts and activities previously reported in project 623145 / Aerospace Power Technology were transferred to this project to enable acceleration of integrated system capabilities and capture realistic representation of work.

## Activities (R-2A) — 5

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autonomy Technology Development | 0.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 | +0% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602203F/622403/a0) |
| Power and Thermal Systems Technology Development | 0.0 | 34.5 | 26.4 | −24% | [a4](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602203F/622403/a4) |
| Strategic Analysis Technology Development | 8.0 | 9.1 | 9.1 | +0% | — |
| Advanced Flight Controls Technologies | 10.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — |
| Manned and Unmanned Teaming Technologies | 24.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — |

> 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.

### Autonomy Technology Development

Complete the development of a mission management autonomy framework. Activities include: -Enabling Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA) compliance and containerization of all the skills to facilitate transition. Complete the development and evaluation of algorithm enhancements for a tactical scenario. Activities include…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602203F/622403/a0

### Power and Thermal Systems Technology Development

Complete development of advanced power and thermal capabilities. Activities include: -Thermal architecture trade studies and analysis toolset development Continue the development of power, thermal management and controls technologies for modular electrified aircraft. Activities include -Component maturation and systems analysis for power…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602203F/622403/a4

### Strategic Analysis Technology Development

**FY2027 planned work.** Continue analyses of future advanced aerospace technology gaps and capability concepts. Activities include: - Analysis in the areas of autonomous collaborative platforms and weapons for affordable mass; and hypersonics for responsive strike capabilities. Continue model and simulation tool development. Activities include: - Maturing lifecycle analysis methods in concert with operational impact analysis to enhance the modeling of longer duration operational timelines. Continue establishment of digital engineering processes and practices. Activities include: - Integration of model-based systems engineering practices, style guides, model repository, digital reference architectures, and model verification toolsets. Continue research into mission engineering in aerospace system simulation sciences. Activities include: - Developing model-surrogacy methods and improving immersive simulations with virtual/mixed-reality technologies. Continue applied research in enhancing analytical methods with artificial intelligence. Activities include: - Leveraging generative artificial intelligence to extract greater information and knowledge from analyses and employing artificial intelligence methods to gain computational efficiencies through model abstraction. Complete the development of an enterprise data ecosystem. Activities include: - Creating data fabric and inventory, assessing data maturity, and developing data pipelines.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Not Applicable

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue analyses of future advanced aerospace technology gaps and capability concepts. -Activities include analysis in the areas of autonomous collaborative platforms and responsive strike capabilities. - Continue model and simulation tool development. -Activities include establishing lifecycle analysis methods in concert with operational impact analysis to enhance the modeling of longer duration operational timelines. - Continue establishment of digital engineering processes and practices. -Activities include integration of model-based systems engineering practices and the creation of a shared model repository. - Continue research into mission engineering in aerospace system simulation sciences. -Activities include improving immersive simulations with virtual/mixed-reality technologies and enhancing the usage of mixed fidelity models. - Initiate applied research in enhancing analytical methods with artificial intelligence -Activities include developing generative artificial intelligence user interfaces for our analytical tools and employing artificial intelligence methods to gain computational efficiencies through model abstraction. - Initiate the development of an enterprise data ecosystem. -Activities include creating a data inventory, assessing data maturity, and establishing an environment for storing and managing data.

### Advanced Flight Controls Technologies

**FY2027 planned work.** Not Applicable

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Not Applicable

**FY2026 plans — current year.** In FY 2026 the funding and technical activities were realigned to Autonomy Technology Development to enable acceleration of integrated system capabilities and capture realistic representation of work.

### Manned and Unmanned Teaming Technologies

**FY2027 planned work.** Not Applicable

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Not Applicable

**FY2026 plans — current year.** In FY 2026 the funding and technical activities were realigned to Autonomy Technology Development to enable acceleration of integrated system capabilities and capture realistic representation of work.

## 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/0602203F.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0602203F project 622403 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0602203F")`.

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