# Project 632100 — Materials for Electromagnetic Spectrum Resilience and Mission Survivability

**Program element:** 0603112F — Advanced Materials for Weapon Systems  
**Project:** 632100  
**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/0603112F/632100  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603112F

## Summary

Project 632100 — Materials for Electromagnetic Spectrum Resilience and Mission Survivability requests $32.8M in FY2027, 100% of the $32.8M requested for program element 0603112F, up 29% on FY2026. 5 R-2A activities decompose the request, 3 new this cycle.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 12.7 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 25.4 |
| FY2027 | Request | 32.8 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 32.1 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 35.6 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 36.3 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 37.1 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0603112F; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 632100 buys

This project focuses on increasing the resiliency and survivability of Department of the Air Force assets against extreme conditions and extending the lifespan and reliability of existing and future systems. It develops and demonstrates advanced materials and technologies to protect personnel, weapons, platforms, and mission systems from electromagnetic threats including directed energy weapons and nuclear detonation. Further, it develops and demonstrates multiple physical and technical methods for the degradation of adversarial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) collection and analysis. Accompanying these efforts is the development of nondestructive inspection and evaluation technologies to monitor performance, detect potential failures, and assure manufacturing quality, ultimately improving system reliability and cost-effectiveness at both the field and depot maintenance levels.

## Activities (R-2A) — 5

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electromagnetic Protection for Aerospace Systems | 7.9 | 8.3 | 9.2 | +10% | — |
| Counter Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Technologies | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | new | — |
| Electromagnetic Protection for Personnel | 4.8 | 5.1 | 6.5 | +27% | — |
| Air Vehicle Materials Technologies | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.3 | new | — |
| Advanced System Monitoring Technologies | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.9 | new | — |

> 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.

### Electromagnetic Protection for Aerospace Systems

**FY2027 planned work.** - Continue the development, integration, assessment, and transition of advanced electromagnetic protection technologies for current and future Department of the Air Force platforms and systems with specific focus on those capabilities prioritized by warfighter needs. - Continue the application of computational materials science to model materials characteristics, with the aim increasing the accuracy of predictions and shortening the design cycle time. These results will iteratively refine the models for future material design. Activities include: -- Utilization of model predictions to down-select designs for production and subsequent lab-scale testing. - Continue the analysis of the high-performance properties of semiconductor materials designed to protect electro-optic imaging sensors. Activities include: -- Evaluation of manufacturability of materials with most promising properties. - Continue the development of materials for survivable next generation aircraft sensor systems. Activities include: -- Lab scale tests in preparation for breadboard demonstration. - Continue the development of protection materials and material processing for survivable next generation munitions. Activities include: -- Utilization of test capabilities for the evaluation of material properties while working with partners to evaluate processing capabilities to improve performance. - Continue the transition of technologies and the integration of advanced developments into lightweight, low-cost survivable electro-optic sensors that provide full spectrum protection for missile warning that meet program office and future platform requirements.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding in FY 2027 increased compared to FY 2026 by $0.809 million due to increased investments in laboratory scale testing of materials for protection of next generation aircraft sensors.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue the development, integration, assessment, and transition of advanced electromagnetic protection technologies for current and future Department of the Air Force platforms and systems with specific focus on those capabilities prioritized by warfighter needs. - Continue the application of computational materials science to model materials characteristics, with the goal to increase the accuracy of predictions and shorten the design cycle time. These results will iteratively refine the models for future material design. - Continue the analysis of the high-performance properties of semiconductor materials designed to protect electro-optic imaging sensors. - Continue the development of materials for survivable next generation aircraft sensor systems. - Commence the development of protection materials and material processing for survivable next generation munitions. - Commence the transition of technologies and the integration of advanced developments into lightweight, low-cost survivable electro-optic sensors that provide full spectrum protection for missile warning.

### Counter Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Technologies — NEW START

**FY2027 planned work.** - Continue developmental efforts in counter ISR technologies across multiple collection domains. Activities include: -- Conduct comparative analysis across all system results and prepare the most promising candidate for operationally relevant environment testing. -- Conduct test and evaluation efforts on first generation prototypes of multiple counter ISR capabilities in the laboratory environment. - Continue the development of a closed-loop simulation. Activities include: -- Application of previously developed closed loop/human in the loop simulation in a digital test environment to assess effectiveness and utility of multiple counter ISR techniques. - Continue the development of new methods and materials to allow ruggedization of deliverables. Activities include: -- Assessment of performance and evaluation of the ease of use by operators in relevant field environments.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 funding increased compared to FY 2026 by $7.000 million due to the transfer of the Counter Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Technologies effort and associated funding within this Program Element from Project 633946/Materials Transition to Project 632100/Materials for Electromagnetic Spectrum Resilience and Mission Survivability. However, the overall funding in FY 2027 for the Counter Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Technologies effort increased from FY 2026 by $1.062 million due to increased activities for improving performance to come closer to meeting application objectives as uncovered through a combination of modeling expected performance and comparing against testing results.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - In FY 2025 and FY 2026, the Counter Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Technologies effort and funding were reported in Program Element 0603112F/Advanced Materials for Weapon Systems/Project 633946/Materials Transition. FY 2025 funding was $4.629 million, and FY 2026 funding is $5.938 million.

### Electromagnetic Protection for Personnel

**FY2027 planned work.** - Continue the development, integration, assessment, and transition of electromagnetic protection materials and technologies to mitigate risks to aircrew eyes from lasers and nuclear flash blindness. - Continue lab scale testing for transition and further development of visor-based aircrew protection technologies. Activities include: -- Down-selection to most promising technologies for further evaluation and development. - Continue using computational materials science tools for the evaluation and assessment of materials and advances in characterization techniques for eye protection technologies. Activities include: -- Incorporation of representative environments into modeling, simulation, and analysis (MS&A) tools to provide more realistic models to evaluate technologies. - Continue to support transition by improving representative test capabilities in a lab environment to provide more realistic evaluation of the functionality and performance of personnel protection technologies under expected operational conditions. Activities include: -- Engagement with the user community to get feedback on proposed solutions. - Continue the development and testing of materials technologies to protect against nuclear flash blindness.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding in FY 2027 increased compared to FY 2026 by $1.368 million due to increased emphasis on modeling and testing electromagnetic protection materials and technologies in realistic operational environments.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue the development, integration, assessment, and transition of electromagnetic protection materials and technologies to mitigate risks to aircrew eyes from lasers and nuclear flash blindness. - Continue the transition efforts and further advanced development of visor-based aircrew protection technologies. - Continue using computational materials science tools for the evaluation and assessment of materials and advances in characterization techniques for eye protection technologies. - Continue the transition, validation, maturation, and improved testing methods to the functionality and performance of personnel protection technologies under expected operational conditions. - Continue the development and testing of materials technologies to protect against nuclear flash blindness.

### Air Vehicle Materials Technologies — NEW START

**FY2027 planned work.** - Complete the development and characterization of composite materials used for electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) survivability of munitions and airborne assets. Activities include: -- Demonstration of manufacturability of structural composites with electromagnetic protection. -- Demonstration of the manufacturability of protected structural radomes. - Continue the development and transitioning of materials and processes for EMS survivability in systems while maintaining performance levels. Survivability will be assessed against operational performance metrics provided by transition partners. Activities include: -- Utilization of threat level, test capabilities to evaluate material properties while concurrently working with partners to evaluate manufacturing capabilities to improve performance. -- Down-selection to most promising technologies for further evaluation and development. - Commence the advanced development and evaluation of materials for air, ground, and space assets using customer-based metrics. Activities include: -- Utilization of test capabilities to evaluate material properties while concurrently working with partners to evaluate manufacturing capabilities to improve performance.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 funding increased compared to FY 2026 by $6.288 million due to the transfer of the Air Vehicle Materials Technologies effort and associated funding within this Program Element from Project 633946/Materials Transition to Project 632100 Materials for Electromagnetic Spectrum Resilience and Mission Survivability. However, the overall funding for the Air Vehicle Materials Technologies decreased from FY 2026 by $0.409 million due to minor programmatic adjustments to the DAF Science and Technology portfolio.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - In FY 2025 and FY 2026, the Air Vehicle Materials Technologies effort and funding were reported in Program Element 0603112F/Advanced Materials for Weapon Systems/Project 633946/Materials Transition. FY 2025 funding was $6.026 million, and FY 2026 funding is $6.697 million.

### Advanced System Monitoring Technologies — NEW START

**FY2027 planned work.** - Complete the demonstration and transition of technologies to locate damage in composite structures without coating removal and to inspect composite structures with complex geometry resulting in higher mission availability. - Complete the development of enhanced methods for compiling, reporting, collecting and rapidly analyzing digital nondestructive testing and evaluation data necessary for improved damage detection and characterization on aircraft. - Complete the transition and integration of computational materials science tools to provide data necessary for life prediction methods to enable risk-based life management. - Continue the development and work with the program offices and depots to transition improved methods to acquire and analyze data for enhanced point and zonal characterization, registration, and tracking of degradation and damage to specialty materials that enable/ensure more affordable coatings assessment. Activities include: -- Advancement of the frequency capability for electromagnetic assessment probes needed for point measurements to maintain specialty materials on fighter and bomber aircraft. -- Development of a methodology for repeatable on-aircraft near-field zonal nondestructive measurements for fighter aircraft. - Continue the development of nondestructive technology to improve the characterization and assessment of failure modes of multilayer specialty materials to increase mission availability. Activities include: -- Evaluation of optimization approaches to assess defects and/or damage in multilayer specialty materials. - Complete the development of the automation of robotic technologies for visual inspections that will realize human-assisted inspection capabilities and provide capabilities for automated multi-spectral characterization to reduce inspection/maintenance manhours. Activities include: -- Demonstration of automated robotic point assessment of specialty materials capability. - Commence the development of a nondestructive thickness measurement technique for evaluating high-temperature, multilayered ceramic materials. Activities include: -- Development of a method to measure the thickness of each layer in multilayered ceramic materials used in turbine engine components, to improve performance assessment and quality control.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 funding increased compared to FY 2026 by $3.912 million due to the transfer of the Advanced System Monitoring Technologies effort and associated funding within this Program Element from Project 633153/Non-Destructive Inspection Development to Project 632100/ Materials for Electromagnetic Spectrum Resilience and Mission Survivability. However, the overall funding for the Advanced System Monitoring Technologies decreased from FY 2026 by $0.724 million due to completing the development of automatic robotic technologies for visual inspections.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - In FY 2025 and FY 2026, the Advanced System Monitoring Technologies effort and funding were reported in Program Element 0603112F/Advanced Materials for Weapon Systems/Project 633153/Non-Destructive Inspection Development. FY 2025 funding was $3.203 million, and FY 2026 funding is $4.636 million.

## 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/0603112F.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0603112F project 632100 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0603112F")`.

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