What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 2912 of PE 0603123N. This is the budget justification's own description of work that has not happened yet — the one thing no other level of the budget carries.
Initiate: - Evaluation and integration of rotating detonation engine (RDE) technology in propulsion systems for next-generation Naval strike systems. - Preliminary design, prototyping, and testing of an RDE test article with a supersonic inlet, diffuser, and nozzle to assess integrated propulsion system performance. - Conceptual design of strike system all-up-round and characterization of system performance. - Evaluation of material and thermal management solutions to demonstrate long-duration RDE operation. - Studies in military utility analysis and application of novel air breathing propulsion technologies.
The increase from FY26 to FY27 is to accelerate weapons technology maturation, prototyping, system integration, and mission utility studies for advanced tactical propulsion, including rotating detonation engine (RDE) technologies for Navy-relevant applications. This increase directly supports Department of the Navy (DoN) priorities for developing next-generation strike capabilities, which in turn aligns with broader DoW objectives for affordable mass munitions and technology acceleration. This investment leverages prior applied research investments and is not a new start.
Three years, and no five-year plan
An R-2A activity publishes the prior year, the current year and the budget year. The FYDP outyears exist at project and program-element level and are deliberately absent here rather than inferred. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 0.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 12.0 |
This activity is 24% of project 2912's FY2027 request and 24% of PE 0603123N's. In the request year the activities under a project sum to it exactly; in the current year they under-cover it in about 9% of cases, so an activity's delta can legitimately exceed its parent's and the two must not be compared row to row.
4 activities in project 2912
Every R-2A line of this project, largest FY2027 request first. Linked where the activity has enough of its own narrative to carry a page; the rest are shown in full on the project page.