# Project MK4 — Warfigher Health Applied Rsch Technology

**Program element:** 0602787A — Medical Technology  
**Project:** MK4  
**Component:** U.S. Army  
**Appropriation:** 2040 — RDT&E, Army  
**Budget Activity:** 2 — Applied Research  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602787A/MK4  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602787A

## Summary

Project MK4 — Warfigher Health Applied Rsch Technology requests $147.5M in FY2027, 99% of the $149.2M requested for program element 0602787A, up 4.0% on FY2026. 10 R-2A activities decompose the request, 2 new this cycle.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 63.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 141.8 |
| FY2027 | Request | 147.5 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 153.1 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 153.7 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 156.3 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 154.7 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0602787A; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project MK4 buys

This project conducts research to develop and evaluate solutions to enhance Warfighter health and readiness by preventing non-battle injuries stemming from environmental (heat, cold, altitude, etc.) exposures, informing optimized logistics for nutrition to ensure sustained lethality, and developing comprehensive countermeasures and blast mitigation strategies to enhance Solider performance. This research will directly inform improved training procedures, medical standards, and injury prevention protocols, ultimately reducing injury rates, accelerating recovery, and minimizing long term health consequences and the associated medical costs. Research in this Project is coordinated and is complementary to work done in PE 0602143A (Soldier Lethality Technology) and PE 0603118A (Soldier Lethality Advanced Technology). Work is performed at U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) and the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL) and Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

## Activities (R-2A) — 10

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Field Biological Effects and Mechanisms | 46.2 | 128.0 | 128.7 | +1% | [a7](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602787A/MK4/a7) |
| Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional and Musculoskeletal Factors | — | — | 10.8 | new | [a8](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602787A/MK4/a8) |
| Army Medical Blast Overpressure (BOP) Risk Mitigation | — | — | 8.0 | new | — |
| Operational Risk Planning Tools for Battlefield Environmental Threats | 1.8 | 1.4 | — | −100% | — |
| Prevention of Soldier Performance Degradation in Extreme Environments | 3.4 | 3.0 | — | −100% | — |
| Leader Decision Aid to Manage Blast Head Injury in All Settings | 1.1 | 0.8 | — | −100% | — |
| Physical Fitness Standards to Prevent Musculoskeletal Injuries | 0.9 | 1.1 | — | −100% | — |
| Leader Tools to Reduce Musculoskeletal Injury In All Settings | 2.8 | 2.3 | — | −100% | — |
| Biomedical Performance Enhancement | 5.9 | 4.0 | — | −100% | — |
| Expeditionary Force Nutrition to Improve Performance | 1.5 | 1.1 | — | −100% | — |

> 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.

### Energy Field Biological Effects and Mechanisms

Will conduct extensive data analysis and documentation of energy field bioeffects modeling, simulation, laboratory and data collection results across biologically relevant scales.

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602787A/MK4/a7

### Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional and Musculoskeletal Factors — NEW START

Continued evaluation of translational countermeasures resulting in a go/no go decision supporting advance research to mitigate medical risk and augment performance for Soldier operations in extreme environments. Identify and assess novel interventions to optimize hydration in extreme heat and increase blood oxygen levels at extreme…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602787A/MK4/a8

### Army Medical Blast Overpressure (BOP) Risk Mitigation — NEW START

**FY2027 planned work.** Develop an initial framework for capturing acute, subacute, and long-term effects of BOP exposure using wearable physiological health and fitness devices to inform injury prevention and recovery strategies. Conduct comparative analysis of PPE effectiveness in mitigating blast effects.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding increase reflects development of a pathway to address the Army multifaceted strategy for total force readiness and mitigation of the blast exposure health effects.

### Operational Risk Planning Tools for Battlefield Environmental Threats

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** This effort was realigned to the "Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional, and Musculoskeletal Factors" effort within this project.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Evaluate translational countermeasures to mitigate medical risk and augment performance for Soldier operations in extreme environments.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Determine the influences of long-acting reversible contraceptives on physiological responses to extreme environments in women. Provide knowledge to optimize Soldier performance in Arctic Environments. Determine the influence of race and dietary supplementation on skin perfusion in the cold.

### Prevention of Soldier Performance Degradation in Extreme Environments

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** This effort was realigned to the "Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional, and Musculoskeletal Factors" effort within this project.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Evaluate interventions (therapeutics and supplements) for high altitude & cold.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Determine physiological and biochemical markers of exertional heat stroke (EHS) and non -EHS responses to high-risk events. Identify genomic and transcriptomic signature for predicting exertional heat stroke/illness. Determine sex differences in the physiological and metabolic response to strenuous military training in the cold. Develop an early warning hypoxia monitoring tool for use at high altitude.

### Leader Decision Aid to Manage Blast Head Injury in All Settings

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** This effort was realigned to the "Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional, and Musculoskeletal Factors" effort within this project.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Develop brain injury thresholds and acute blast exposure limits to mitigate Warfighters' performance degradation in all military operational environments against firing next generation weapon systems. Determine the repetitive head impact exposure profile in military training courses and correlate repetitive head impact exposure profile and neurophysiological effects.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Enhance and optimize methodology for head injury risk assessment.

### Physical Fitness Standards to Prevent Musculoskeletal Injuries

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** This effort was realigned to the "Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional, and Musculoskeletal Factors" effort within this project.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Field studies and research that aim to refine physical fitness-based musculoskeletal injury risk mitigation interventions and/or programs; mitigate short-term, long-term, and/or cumulative effects of risk factors for musculoskeletal injury in Soldiers.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Investigate biomechanical differences during the ACFT deadlift; continue to determine risk factors for re-injury following a musculoskeletal injury to provide recommendations for preventing subsequent injuries.

### Leader Tools to Reduce Musculoskeletal Injury In All Settings

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** This effort was realigned to the "Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional, and Musculoskeletal Factors" effort within this project.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Continue efforts identifying recommendations to assist in the prevention and rehabilitation of MSKI; provide guidance to impact potential policy changes on supplements to mitigate bone stress injuries.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Quantify the role of physiological factors, such as fiber type and metabolic elements, contributing to the development of muscle fatigue and decreased performance and risk and mitigation interventions; continue to determine the extent to which sleep extension reduces musculoskeletal injury; continue to identify non-physical factors contributing to injury, and potential interventions to reduce those factors' influence.

### Biomedical Performance Enhancement

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** This effort was realigned to the "Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional, and Musculoskeletal Factors" effort within this project.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Will continue conducting research on analysis of effects of transcranial electrical stimulation-boosted daytime sleep on aviators' flight performance and cognitive performance. Continued research on analysis of Soldier physiology, performance and readiness with metabolic biomarkers, machine learning and artificial intelligence to inform prediction of military performance and medical readiness under repeated operational stress.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Initiate investigation of machine learning and artificial intelligence analysis to predict individual Soldier and echelon-based medical readiness and impact on physical and mental performance.

### Expeditionary Force Nutrition to Improve Performance

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** This effort was realigned to the "Develop Solutions to Prevent Disease Non-Battle Injuries Due to Environmental, Nutritional, and Musculoskeletal Factors" effort within this project.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Will continue the development of targeted nutritional countermeasures for mitigating MSKI-mediated atrophy to inform recovery. Will also initiate studies to optimize fiber content of military rations to sustain readiness and performance, while reducing the likelihood of unwanted side effects.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Inform the development of targeted nutritional countermeasures for mitigating MSKI-mediated atrophy and accelerate recovery.

## 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/0602787A.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0602787A project MK4 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0602787A")`.

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