# Project 627622 — Multispectral Sensing & Countermeasures Technology

**Program element:** 0602204F — Aerospace Sensors  
**Project:** 627622  
**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/0602204F/627622  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602204F

## Summary

Project 627622 — Multispectral Sensing & Countermeasures Technology requests $52.5M in FY2027, 32% of the $165.0M requested for program element 0602204F, down 21% on FY2026. 5 R-2A activities decompose the request.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 41.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 66.1 |
| FY2027 | Request | 52.5 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 60.1 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 67.0 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 77.0 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 78.5 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0602204F; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 627622 buys

This project develops and assesses affordable, reliable all weather radio frequency sensing and countermeasure concepts for aerospace applications covering the range of radio frequency sensors including communications, navigation, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and radar, both active and passive, across multiple domains. This project also develops and evaluates technology for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors, fire control radars, electromagnetic warfare, integrated radar and electromagnetic warfare systems, and offensive information operations systems. It emphasizes the detection and tracking of surface and airborne targets with radio frequency signatures that are difficult to detect due to reduced radar cross sections, concealment and camouflage measures, severe clutter, or heavy jamming. Techniques exploited include the use of multiple radio frequency phenomenologies, multi-dimensional adaptive processing, advanced waveforms and knowledge-aided processing techniques. It also develops advanced electro-optical aerospace sensor technologies for a variety of offensive and defensive applications. The sensor technologies under development cover the ultraviolet through the infrared portion of the spectrum. Technical efforts include improvements in system integration, digital processing, analysis tools, and sensor architectures. One of the project's goals is to improve electro-optical and related technologies for the detection, tracking, and identification of noncooperative and difficult targets, such as those obscured by camouflage or operating at significant range. This project also develops the passive and active sensors and algorithms needed to enable precision targeting in challenging operating environments as well as advanced electro-optical threat warning and countermeasures technologies. The project also explores technologies to maintain a military advantage in positioning, navigation and timing integrity, accuracy, and resiliency. This project also develops concepts to counter threats to our aerospace systems. It develops and evaluates technology for electromagnetic warfare, integrated radar and electromagnetic warfare systems, and electro-optical/infrared seeker defeat.

## Activities (R-2A) — 5

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiband Multifunction Radio Frequency Sensing | 14.0 | 22.2 | 19.6 | −12% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602204F/627622/a0) |
| Distributed Radio Frequency Sensing | 13.6 | 23.2 | 16.7 | −28% | [a2](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602204F/627622/a2) |
| Laser Radar Sensing in Contested Environments | 0.0 | 13.6 | 11.9 | −12% | [a3](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602204F/627622/a3) |
| Passive Electro-Optical/Infrared Sensing in Contested Environments | 0.0 | 7.2 | 4.3 | −41% | — |
| Passive Radio Frequency Sensing | 14.0 | 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.

### Multiband Multifunction Radio Frequency Sensing

- Continue deployment of passive sensing techniques for detecting, geolocating, and characterizing signals of interest onto advanced multifunction systems targeted to small and large platforms - Continue development of multifunction, wideband radio frequency sensor payloads using scalable, open system architectures and commercially…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602204F/627622/a0

### Distributed Radio Frequency Sensing

- Continue development of enhanced radio frequency modeling and simulation tools for evaluation of passive radar performance in complex environments. - Continue integrating high-fidelity modeling and simulation with mission level modeling to demonstrate operational utility of distributed and passive radar concepts. - Continue analysis of…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602204F/627622/a2

### Laser Radar Sensing in Contested Environments

- Continue development of processing software for multi-mode laser radar with a focus on processing efficiency. - Continue effort to reduce size, weight, power, and cost of laser radar systems and subsystems. - Continue efforts to improve the performance and capabilities of laser radar components, including: transmitters, detectors, and…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602204F/627622/a3

### Passive Electro-Optical/Infrared Sensing in Contested Environments

**FY2027 planned work.** - Complete testing of large format, long wave infrared detector array for infrared search and track, to include flight testing on an air platform. - Continue development of low cost, size, weight, and power infrared search and track technology enabling air surveillance on resource-constrained platforms. - Continue development of low size, weight and power processing for infrared search and track. - Continue development of infrared modeling, simulation, processing and exploitation to enable detection and tracking of small targets. - Continue development of thermal infrared hyperspectral technologies to enable day/night detection and identification of challenging targets. - Commence infrared event-based sensor research and development to enable target detection, tracking and identification through spatial, spectral and temporal exploitation

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 decreased compared to FY 2026 by $2.947 million due to a reduction in the development of passive optical sensing technologies. 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.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue testing of large format, long wave infrared detector array for infrared search and track, to include flight testing on an air platform. - Continue development of low size, weight and power processing for infrared search and track. - Continue low cost, size, weight, and power optimized electro-optical/infrared payload and algorithm development for day/night detection and tracking capabilities addressing Moving Target Engagement at Scale. - Continue infrared event-based sensor chip research and development towards mission-level format arrays and supporting algorithms - Commence development of low cost, size, weight, and power optimized smaller pitch, large format long wave infrared detector array for infrared search and track missions on next-gen air combat vehicles. - Commence development of thermal infrared hyperspectral technologies to enable day/night capability.

### Passive Radio Frequency Sensing

**FY2027 planned work.** Not Applicable

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Not Applicable

**FY2026 plans — current year.** In FY 2026 the funding and technical activities from this effort were realigned to Program 0602204F, Aerospace Sensors; Project 627622, Multispectral Sensing & Countermeasures Technology ; Distributed Radio Frequency Sensing effort.

## 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/0602204F.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0602204F project 627622 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0602204F")`.

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