# Air Force Vanguards — Program Element 0603032F

**Program element:** 0603032F  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force  
**Appropriation:** 3600 — RDT&E, Air Force  
**Budget Activity:** 3 — Advanced Technology Development  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603032F

## Summary

U.S. Air Force requests $282.0M in FY2027, sustained across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators added 3.0% (to $290.5M).

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 150.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 255.6 |
| FY2027 | Request | 282.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 296.7 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 317.9 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 318.8 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 320.2 |

> Estimate types are not summed — the profile mixes actuals, enacted law, the request, and outyear projections.

## Congressional marks (FY2027)

| Stage | Marked ($M) | Change ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| Request | 282.0 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 282.0 | +0.0 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 282.0 | +0.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 290.5 | +8.5 |

> FY2027 NDAA authorization marks, as of 2026-07-27. Not appropriations or final law.

## Projects (1)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 630320 | Air Force Vanguards | 150.6 | 255.6 | 282.0 | +10% |

> Projects are the summable leaves: the program element total is their sum, never added to it.

### Project 630320 — Air Force Vanguards

This Program is a concentrated effort to accelerate transition of emerging technologies into the hands of the warfighter. Vanguard programs draw the operational, acquisition, and technology communities together into coherent teams to solve hard Science & Technology (S&T) problems based on Department of the Air Force (DAF) strategic priorities which do not have readily available emerging technology solutions. Teams follow a disciplined process to accelerate efforts as deemed necessary by the department. This process (known as WARTECH, for WARfighter / TECHnologist) utilizes discrete progress gates to deliver S&T efforts organized as Vanguard Pathfinders, Vanguard Prospects, and Vanguards. This construct organizes these multi- disciplinary, capability-focused investments based on characteristics such as effort maturity, established military utility, technical viability and transitionability. Each progress gate has built-in off-ramps to promote transition. The process is overseen by DAF TEO with support garnered throughout from the DAF general officer community that represent authority, accountability, and responsibility in the specific technology areas. Vanguard Pathfinders are focused effort areas which comprise numerous exploratory activities intended to establish military utility and technical viability of concepts under exploration. Extensive socialization occurs within these efforts to inform activities inherent to these emerging investment areas. Concept socialization activities include but are not limited to the codification of the operational champion, planning engagements with other government R&D, exploratory outreach to industry and other non- traditional partners, and the initial identification of potential transition partners. These investments seek to identify and integrate emerging applied research efforts from government labs and/or industry into integrated technology demonstrations. Vanguard pathfinder teams seek to bring appropriate communities together to answer the question "are we solving the right problem” while establishing technical viability of the concepts under consideration. This phase can be accelerated or bypassed for efforts with well understood operational requirements and concepts with established technical viability. Pathfinders serve as the pipeline for DAF's future Vanguards Prospects and Vanguards.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WARTECH | 1.4 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Vanguard Prospect - Resolute Sentry | 15.0 | 14.5 | 0.0 |
| Vanguard Prospect - Area Effects Demonstration | 12.3 | 1.2 | 0.0 |
| Vanguard Prospect - Fight Tonight | 7.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Vanguard Prospect - CRONUS | 25.4 | 39.2 | 38.0 |
| Vanguard Prospect - Ephemeral Paragon (E-Gon) | 14.5 | 36.9 | 45.9 |
| Vanguard Prospect - Swift Hammer | 23.5 | 38.9 | 0.0 |
| Vanguard Prospect - APEX GEAR | 7.2 | 22.9 | 27.0 |
| Vanguard Prospect - Scabbard Rage | 12.1 | 24.4 | 30.7 |
| Vanguard Prospect - Payload Delivery System | 0.0 | 30.6 | 32.9 |
| Vanguard Prospect - EO/IR Sensing Demonstration | 26.0 | 31.6 | 36.5 |
| Vanguard Pathfinder - Integrated Electronic Warfare | 0.0 | 1.9 | 13.1 |
| Vanguard Pathfinder - Integrated Networks | 6.1 | 2.9 | 11.2 |
| Vanguard Pathfinder - Integrated Combat Effects | 0.0 | 2.0 | 42.6 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0603032F (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0603032F")`.

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