# Seeker Technologies

**R-2A activity** of project 622068 — Advanced Guidance Technology  
**Program element:** 0602602F — Conventional Munitions  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force · **Budget Activity:** 2  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602602F/622068/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602602F/622068

## Summary

This activity requests $14.3M in FY2027, 19% of project 622068, up 18% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** - Continue seeker technology development of multi-function sensors, biology-inspired information processing, data fusion, and low-power computation, focusing on providing improvements in the performance and Cost, Size, Weight, and power of future munitions and intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) systems. Activities include commencing multi-sensor and low-cost efficient sensor research from biological and modular concepts for tactical airborne platforms. - Stop development of technologies that simplify, increase flexibility, and reduce the cost of advanced seeker concepts, enabling development of next generation seekers with greater precision, improved target detection, and lower cost. Stopping research and development of novel photonic devices and metasurface technologies and demonstrating early research concepts for photonic and optoelectronic devices supporting next generation seekers for advanced moving target strike capabilities with lower size, weight, power, and cost requirements. - Continue developing algorithmic approaches for integrating weapons into the kill chain to enable distributive, flexible seeker targeting. Activities include demonstrating advanced seeker signal processing technologies with the algorithmic approaches in the weapons kill chain and commencing autonomous target recognition and target discrimination research. - Continue development of weapon radomes and apertures to improve transmission and optical performance while increasing protection from severe operational environments. Activities include commencing integration research of radomes and optimized aperture designs for high-speed and hypersonic weapon applications. - Continue and expand research into electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) seekers and multi-function radio frequency (RF) systems on weapons, enabling development of EO/IR and multiple RF applications for weapons as well as to enable novel coherent RF functions. Activities include demonstrating prototypes of low-cost radio-frequency applications, commencing optimization research of different RF signals in low-cost and high-speed applications, and commencing research with IR and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) seekers for improving target detection and moving target engagements.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 increased compared to FY 2026 by $2.230 million for technology investment to develop new radome and apertures for high-speed applications, advance low-cost radar seekers for affordable mass collaborative weapons, demonstrating feasibility of low-cost radio-frequency seekers through flight experiments, advance collaborative automatic target recognition technologies for swarming cooperative weapons, and mature infrared and spectral LiDAR seeker technology for advanced target discrimination capabilities.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue seeker technology development of multi-function sensors, biology-inspired information processing, data fusion, and low-power computation, focusing on improvements in the performance and Cost, Size, Weight, and power of future munitions and intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) systems. - Continue developing technologies that simplify, increase flexibility, and reduce the cost of advanced seeker concepts, enabling the development of next generation seekers with greater precision at longer range and lower cost. - Continue developing algorithmic approaches for integrating weapons into the kill chain to enable distributive, flexible seeker targeting. - Continue development of weapon radomes and apertures to improve transmission and optical performance while increasing protection from severe operational environments. - Continue and expand research into multi-function radio frequency (RF) system on weapons, enabling development for multiple RF applications on weapons as well as to enable novel coherent RF functions.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 13.3 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 12.1 |
| FY2027 | Request | 14.3 |

> 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 622068

- [Aerodynamics, Navigation, and Control Technologies](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602602F/622068/a1) — FY2027 33.9
- [Guidance Technologies](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602602F/622068/a2) — FY2027 26.2

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0602602F project 622068 (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.*