# 2) Biological Warfare Defense Prophylaxis - Enhanced Biological Defense

**R-2A activity** of project PT2 — Protect (Applied Research)  
**Program element:** 0602384BP — Chemical and Biological Defense Program  
**Component:** Defense-Wide · **Budget Activity:** 2  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602384BP/PT2/a1  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602384BP/PT2

## Summary

This activity requests $20.9M in FY2027, 27% of project PT2, down 0.3% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2025–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** - Continue development of machine learning tool for vaccine selection by adding additional platform data and functionality. Transition to Project PT3/Protect Biological Warfare Defense Prophylaxis thrust area for further development. - Continue to test threat agnostic prophylactic products as stand-alone Medical Countermeasures (MCM) and in combination with vaccines and therapeutics in a layered defense strategy. Transition promising candidates to Project PT3/Protect Biological Warfare Defense Prophylaxis thrust area for further development. - Continue to evaluate novel formulations and delivery systems to enable MCMs that provide immediate protection and stronger efficacy with less doses. Transition promising technologies to Project PT3/Protect Biological Warfare Defense Prophylaxis thrust area for further development.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Minor change due to routine program adjustments.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Expand development of the machine leaning based computational tool by adding additional platforms and rapid antigen discovery to rapidly identify the optimal vaccine platform with which to counter any particular current, novel, or emerging biological threat. - Continue to test threat agnostic prophylactic products as stand-alone Medical Countermeasures (MCM) and in combination with vaccines and therapeutics in a layered defense strategy. - Identify and evaluate novel formulations and delivery systems to enable MCMs that provide immediate protection and stronger efficacy with less doses.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** - Initiated evaluation of self-amplifying RNA vaccines to determine their effectives as compared to mRNA vaccines. - Continued development of a computational tool to rapidly identify the optimal vaccine platform with which to counter any particular current, novel, or emerging biological threat. - Continued to test threat agnostic prophylactic products as stand-alone Medical Countermeasures (MCM) and in combination with vaccines and therapeutics in a layered defense strategy. - Continued to evaluate and characterize novel adjuvants in various vaccine constructs to improve immune response. - Continued to evaluate broad-spectrum encapsulated oral mRNA platform for protection against biological threats.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 19.8 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 21.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 20.9 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Other activities in project PT2

- [8) Nerve Agent Prophylaxis](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602384BP/PT2/a7) — FY2027 21.1
- [1) Biological Warfare Defense Prophylaxis](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602384BP/PT2/a0) — FY2027 20.9
- 5) Multifunctional Materials for Protection — FY2027 8.5
- 6) Protective Garments — FY2027 3.3
- 4) All-Hazards and Respiratory Protection — FY2027 1.9
- 3) Air Purification Enhancements — FY2027 1.4
- 7) Enabling Science — FY2027 —

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0602384BP project PT2 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

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