Project 625173
$50.8MFY2027 request ▼ 4%Laser Technology
FY2025 actual$46.0M
FY2026 enacted$52.8M
FY2027 request$50.8M
FY2027 Request
$91.8M
▼ 4.5% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$96.2M
▲ 4.1% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$92.4M
Prior year
Roll-up of 3 projects. Projects are the summable leaves — the PE total is their sum, never added to it.
For fiscal year 2027, the U.S. Air Force is requesting $91.8M for Directed Energy Technology under RDT&E program element 0602605F, down 4.5% from FY2026.
Funding trajectory
Funding profile, FY2025–FY2031
Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 92.4 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 96.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 91.8 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 92.3 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 101.1 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 105.1 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 108.3 |
Where it sits
Acquisition lifecycle
This program is funded in RDT&E Budget Activity 2 — Applied Research.
Current
Research
BA 1–2
Later
Advanced Technology
BA 3
Later
Prototyping
BA 4
Later
Development & Fielding
BA 5–7
Inside the program element
3 projects roll up into PE 0602605F
Projects are the summable leaves — the PE total is their sum, never added to it. Program elements and projects carry the full five-year plan; activities stop at the budget year. This PE moves -5% overall, which can hide much larger swings below.
Project 624867
$41.0MFY2027 request ▼ 5%Advanced Weapons & Survivability Technology
FY2025 actual$39.2M
FY2026 enacted$43.3M
FY2027 request$41.0M
Project 624866
$0.0MFY2027 request Lasers & Imaging Technology
FY2025 actual$7.1M
FY2026 enacted$0.0M
FY2027 request$0.0M
Congressional action
Congressional marks
Committee marks on the FY2027 request. Adds and cuts are reconciled in conference before they become law.
RequestPresident's Budget
$91.8M
House NDAA (HASC)HASC
$91.8M full · +$0
Senate NDAA (SASC)SASC
$91.8M full · +$0
House Approps (HAC-D)HAC_D
$91.8M full · +$0
unresolved as of 2026-07-27. These are FY2027 authorization marks (NDAA); appropriations and the conference agreement may differ.
Program detail
Mission & acquisition strategy
This Program conducts research, development, test and evaluation in advanced high energy laser (HEL) and high power electromagnetic (HPEM) technologies to satisfy Department of the Air Force requirements in areas including counter unmanned aerial systems (c-UAS), counter intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance (c-ISR), counter missiles (c-Missile), and counter electronics (c-Electronic). This Program also conducts research and development in directed energy for lethal and non-lethal applications by assessing the vulnerability and lethality of high energy lasers and high power microwave systems to meet Air Force needs.
Project 625173, 624867, 624866 — Laser Technology
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Ask this program element
Answers are generated from the figures on this page — the FY2027 justification exhibits and the marks tracked above — and nothing else is consulted. Confirm any figure against the cited exhibit before you use it externally.
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Questions this page can answer
How does the FY2027 request compare with FY2026, and what does the five-year plan show?What did the FY2027 NDAA committees do to this request?Which project inside PE 0602605F is growing fastest, and which is shrinking?In plain terms, what is this program element for and how is it being acquired?
This page carries the budget justification and the NDAA marks — nothing else. For what a contractor has actually been obligated, the ledger is at hitchintel.com/vendors; for live solicitations, hitchintel.com/opportunities. Both are member surfaces.
Provenance
Cite this page
Sources
FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification · Exhibits R-2 / R-3 · PE 0602605F (President's Budget PB2027) — and FY2027 NDAA committee marks, as tracked 2026-07-27.
Suggested citation
HitchAI, "Directed Energy Technology (PE 0602605F)," federal budget intelligence, PB2027 vintage. hitchintel.com/programs/0602605F
Machine access
Markdown twin
/programs/0602605F.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.com → budget_get_program_element, budget_get_cong_marksFY2027 Request
$50.8M
▼ 3.8% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$52.8M
▲ 15% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$46.0M
Prior year
Laser Technology — one RDT&E project inside PE 0602605F. Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, not on a project.
Project 625173 — Laser Technology — requests $50.8M in FY2027, 55% of the $91.8M requested for program element 0602605F. Year over year it falls 3.8% against FY2026.
Funding trajectory
Project 625173 funding, FY2025–FY2031
Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 46.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 52.8 |
| FY2027 | Request | 50.8 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 53.4 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 58.0 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 59.9 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 61.6 |
Inside the project
1 accomplishment / planned program
The R-2A exhibit. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan — and they are descriptive: coverage is partial and they do not always add back to the project, so count them, never total them. Opening lines only here — the full year-by-year narrative is on the project page.
Laser Technology▲ 4%
FY2025 actual$46.0M
FY2026 enacted$48.8M
FY2027 request$50.8M
-Continue in-house development, validation, and transition of predictive, high-fidelity multi-physics modeling tools required to optimize laser weapon system design concepts. Activities include: validating and deploying models, developing the modeling tools needed to support future laser weapon system capability demonstrations, and…
Read the FY2027 plan →Project detail
What project 625173 buys
This project conducts research to advance the state-of-the-art in continuous wave (CW) and pulsed laser sources, optical beam combination techniques, optical beam control technologies, optical beam propagation methodologies, lethality enhancement techniques via laser effect testing, and the integration of these technologies into laboratory-level system demonstration packages for Air Force applications such as counter unmanned aerial systems (c-UAS), counter intelligence/ surveillance/reconnaissance (c-ISR), and counter missiles (c-Missile) for high value airborne asset (HVAA) protection, and point defense. This project conducts modeling, simulation, and analysis to guide science and technology investments and for assessing the military utility of the technologies being developed. Technologies developed under this project feed directly into laser system technology demonstrations to graduate the technology to a higher technology readiness level (TRL) under Program Element 0603605F / Advanced Weapons Technology, Project 633151 / Directed Energy Technology Development, Budget Activity (BA) 2.
FY2027 Request
$41.0M
▼ 5.4% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$43.3M
▲ 10% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$39.2M
Prior year
Advanced Weapons & Survivability Technology — one RDT&E project inside PE 0602605F. Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, not on a project.
Project 624867 — Advanced Weapons & Survivability Technology — requests $41.0M in FY2027, 45% of the $91.8M requested for program element 0602605F. Year over year it falls 5.5% against FY2026.
Funding trajectory
Project 624867 funding, FY2025–FY2031
Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 39.2 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 43.3 |
| FY2027 | Request | 41.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 38.9 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 43.1 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 45.2 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 46.6 |
Inside the project
2 accomplishments / planned programs
The R-2A exhibit. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan — and they are descriptive: coverage is partial and they do not always add back to the project, so count them, never total them. Opening lines only here — the full year-by-year narrative is on the project page.
FY2025 actual$15.4M
FY2026 enacted$17.3M
FY2027 request$41.0M
In FY 2027 and out, the work associated with the "High Power Microwave Effects” effort will be merged into the "High Power Microwave and Unconventional Weapon Technologies” effort to foster better integration of technologies and effects to enable quicker responsiveness to warfighter needs. Total combined funding for the "High Power…
Read the FY2027 plan →High Power Microwave Effects▼ 100%
FY2025 actual$23.8M
FY2026 enacted$26.0M
FY2027 request$0.0M
In FY 2027 and out, the associated plans and funding with the "High Power Microwave Effects” effort will be merged into the "High Power Microwave and Unconventional Weapon Technologies” effort within this Project to foster better integration of technologies and effects to enable quicker responsiveness to warfighter needs.
Project detail
What project 624867 buys
This project conducts research in high power electromagnetics (HPEM), which can include high power microwaves (HPM), plasmas, particle beams, and millimeter waves and other unconventional, innovative weapon technologies, to satisfy Department of the Air Force requirements in the following areas: counter unmanned aerial systems (c-UAS), counter intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance (c-ISR), counter missiles (c-Missile) and counter electronics (c-Electronic) for high-value airborne asset (HVAA) protection, and point defense. This project conducts research to advance the state-of-the-art of HPM sources, antennas, and novel directed energy applications by investigating the effects of HPM weapons on a wide range of systems and components. This project conducts physics-level numerical simulations, modeling, and analysis to inform science and technology investments and for assessing the military utility of HPM systems. This project includes but is not limited to high power microwaves, plasmas, particle beams, and millimeter waves. Technologies developed under this project feed directly into HPM technology demonstrations to graduate the technology to higher technology readiness level (TRL) under Program Element 0603605F / Advanced Weapons Technology, Budget Activity (BA) 2.
FY2027 Request
$0.0M
No FY2026 funding
FY2026 Enacted
$0.0M
▼ 100% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$7.1M
Prior year
Lasers & Imaging Technology — one RDT&E project inside PE 0602605F. Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, not on a project.
Project 624866 — Lasers & Imaging Technology — requests $0.0M in FY2027, 0.0% of the $91.8M requested for program element 0602605F.
Funding trajectory
Project 624866 funding, FY2025–FY2031
Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 7.1 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 0.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 0.0 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 0.0 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 0.0 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 0.0 |
Inside the project
1 accomplishment / planned program
The R-2A exhibit. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan — and they are descriptive: coverage is partial and they do not always add back to the project, so count them, never total them.
High Energy Laser Technologies and Directed Energy Assessments
FY2025 actual$7.1M
FY2026 enacted$0.0M
FY2027 request$0.0M
FY2027 planned work Not Applicable
FY2026 to FY2027 change Not Applicable
FY2026 plans — current year In FY 2026, Project 624866 / Lasers & Imaging Technology efforts were transferred to PE 1206601SF / Space Technology, in order to better integration of technologies and effects to enable quicker responsiveness to warfighter needs.
Project detail
What project 624866 buys
This Project explores the technical feasibility of high power lasers, including beam control, for applications such as aircraft protection, force protection, and precision engagement from the Department of the Air Force platforms. This Project investigates the effects of laser weapons on a wide range of systems and components as well as producing, modifying, validating and applying Directed Energy and non-Directed Energy concept development and assessment tools to determine which technology solutions to pursue.