# Surface Ship and Submarine Hull Mechanical and Electrical (HM&E)

**R-2A activity** of project 2912 — Force Protection Advanced Technology  
**Program element:** 0603123N — Force Protection Advanced Technology  
**Component:** U.S. Navy · **Budget Activity:** 3  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603123N/2912/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603123N/2912

## Summary

This activity requests $30.2M in FY2027, 59% of project 2912, up 23% 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: - Development of Advanced Naval Power Systems: Crewed and Uncrewed Naval Platforms demand high power/energy density, integrated modular power systems that require very low maintenance (people and cost), low fuel consumption, and highly resilient operation for extended mission duration. - Efforts associated with Next Strategic Technology Evaluation Program (NextSTEP) (formerly Energy Systems Technology Evaluation Program (ESTEP)), a prototype viability assessment program at naval facilities that promotes adoption, scaling and deployment to the warfighter of defense and dual-use technologies with the following goals: conduct advanced technology demonstrations to evaluate emerging technologies using Navy and Marine Corps operations as test beds; evaluate and de-risk new prototype technologies to help enable their acquisition and adoption; and provide opportunities for professional development for DON personnel. - Development and demonstration of the capability to condition and de-risk the large volume of combustible and toxic gas resulting from battery thermal runaway events to allow for safe transport of gasses off platforms. - Gas Conditioning of Battery Thermal Runaway Events - Development of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies: Advanced Manufacturing efforts supporting readiness for undersea operations. This includes corrosion, inspection and automation. - Development of Advanced Manufacturing technologies in support of Next-Gen Naval Platforms. This will require new processes, automation and advanced digital tools at a high Manufacturing readiness level to meet the required platform performance requirements for new systems. - Development of rapid qualification tools, including automation and accelerated testing for increased manufacturability. - Sustainment Technology efforts to mature materials state awareness for uncrewed and undersea systems for low/no maintenance operations and increased resiliency. - Efforts on Advanced Platform Resilience focusing on the integration of extensible sets of advanced technologies to improve the efficiency, performance, and survivability of naval platforms and systems. - Development of Advanced Platform Architectures: This effort focuses on developing a design and capability assessment frameworks for the integration of complex sets of component technologies into a platform capability and/or subsystem in support of next generation autonomous and reduce crew platforms compliment platforms to achieve optimal military utility. - Efforts on Advanced Platform Autonomy focusing on the integration of advanced autonomy and artificial intelligence into naval systems and component technologies designed to improve warfighter and platform performance and efficiencies. - Efforts associated with undersea systems focused on at-sea testing and integration of undersea weapons technologies. - Development of Schottky Barrier for Commercial High Temperature Polymer Films with a 2D Nano-assembly Coating

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The FY2026 and FY2027 increase is due to additional investments in the Power & Energy focus area, specifically in the NextSTEP and Naval Power Systems focus areas.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Continue: - Development of Advanced Naval Power Systems: Crewed and Uncrewed Naval Platforms demand high power/energy density, integrated modular power systems that require very low maintenance (people and cost), low fuel consumption, and highly resilient operation for extended mission duration. - Efforts associated with Next Strategic Technology Evaluation Program (NextSTEP) (formerly Energy Systems Technology Evaluation Program (ESTEP)), a prototype viability assessment program at naval facilities that promotes adoption, scaling and deployment to the warfighter of defense and dual-use technologies with the following goals: conduct advanced technology demonstrations to evaluate emerging technologies using Navy and Marine Corps operations as test beds; evaluate and de-risk new prototype technologies to help enable their acquisition and adoption; and provide opportunities for professional development for DON personnel. - Development of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies: Advanced Manufacturing efforts supporting readiness for undersea operations. This includes corrosion, inspection and automation. - Development of Advanced Manufacturing technologies in support of Next-Gen Naval Platforms. This will require new processes, automation and advanced digital tools at a high Manufacturing readiness level to meet the required platform performance requirements for new systems. - Efforts on Advanced Platform Resilience focusing on the integration of extensible sets of advanced technologies to improve the efficiency, performance, and survivability of naval platforms and systems. - Efforts associated with undersea systems. Initiate: - Development and demonstration of the capability to condition and derisk the large volume of combustible and toxic gas resulting from battery thermal runaway events to allow for safe transport of gasses off platforms. - Development of rapid qualification tools, including automation and accelerated testing for increased manufacturability. - Sustainment Technology efforts to mature materials state awareness for uncrewed systems for low/no maintenance operations and increased resiliency. - Development of Advanced Platform Architectures: This effort focuses on developing a design and capability assessment frameworks for the integration of complex sets of component technologies into a platform capability and/or subsystem in support of next generation autonomous and reduce crew platforms compliment platforms to achieve optimal military utility. - Efforts on Advanced Platform Autonomy focusing on the integration of advanced autonomy and artificial intelligence into naval systems and component technologies designed to improve warfighter and platform performance and efficiencies. - Efforts associated with undersea systems focused on at-sea testing and integration of undersea weapons technologies. - Schottky Barrier for Commercial High Temperature Polymer Films with a 2D Nano-assembly Coating project.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 25.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 24.5 |
| FY2027 | Request | 30.2 |

> 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 2912

- [Weapons Technology](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603123N/2912/a3) — FY2027 12.0
- Aircraft Technology — FY2027 6.3
- Mission Capable and Survivable Force — FY2027 2.4

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0603123N project 2912 (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.*