R-2A Activity · President's Budget PB2027

Photonics Technology Development

FY2027 Request
$15.6M
▼ 15% vs FY2026
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This activity requests $15.6M in FY2027, 37% of project 622002, down 15% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

FY2027 Request
$15.6M
▼ 15% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$18.4M
▲ 104% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$9.0M
Prior year
Planned work

What the FY2027 request buys

Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 622002 of PE 0602204F. 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.

FY2027 planned work

- Continue research into non-linear devices for tunablity and power scaling relevant to infrared countermeasure development. - Continue development of high power, narrow line width laser sources for advanced sensing and countermeasure applications. - Continue laser component packaging for laser detection and ranging. - Continue development of chip-scale photonic/electronic wideband transceiver components for electronic warfare technology development. - Complete photonic and quantum substructure technology development for quantum communications and remote sensing applications. - Commence development of low-cost, wafer-scale integrated electro-optic and infrared components, focusing on shortwave and midwave applications.

FY2026 to FY2027 change

FY 2027 decreased compared to FY 2026 by $2.739 million due to a reduction in the development of low cost and weight electro-optical infrared photonic sensors. This reduction is the result of a strategic realignment of the Department of the Air Force's Science and Technology (DAF S&T) portfolio, which aims to optimize core research areas and improve resource efficiency.

Before the request year

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.

FY2026 plans — current year

- Continue photonic and quantum substructure technology development for quantum communications and remote sensing applications - Continue research into non-linear devices for tunablity and power scaling relevant to infrared countermeasure development. - Continue development of high power, narrow line width lasers sources for advanced sensing and countermeasure applications. - Continue laser component packaging for laser detection and ranging. - Continue development of chip-scale photonic/electronic wideband transceiver components for electronic warfare technology development. - Continue resilient and assured optoelectronic/infrared and photonic analysis. - Commence low-cost wafer-scale approaches for infrared detection and emission.

Money

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.

09.0FY25ACTUAL18.4FY26ENACTED15.6FY27REQUEST
Actual Enacted Request
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual9.0
FY2026Enacted18.4
FY2027Request15.6

This activity is 37% of project 622002's FY2027 request and 9.5% of PE 0602204F'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.

Where this sits

5 activities in project 622002

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.

Microelectronics Technology Development$26.2M ▼ 25%
Photonics Technology Development — this activity$15.6M ▼ 15%
Sensor Subsystems$0.0M
Trusted and Assured Electronics$0.0M
Advanced Highly Integrated Microsystems for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare$0.0M
Source
FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification · Exhibit R-2A · PE 0602204F, project 622002 (President's Budget PB2027). Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, never on an activity.
Machine access
Markdown twin /programs/0602204F/622002/a2.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.combudget_get_activity