What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project MD25 of PE 0603180C. 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.
Planned efforts in support of advancing disruptive capabilities to include, but not limited to: National Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Center (NIC): - Distribute integrated multi-domain, multi-service live, virtual and constructive system into a hybrid physical and virtual platform using a phased approach to field NIC initial operational nodes for IAMD capability with an agile growth plan for improved capabilities, connectivity, automation, facilities/infrastructure, and capacity. The center will provide a competitive advantage by enhancing decision making, advanced data analytics, intuitive visualization, joint training and experimentation/concept of operations development, M&S rapid prototyping, and seamless integration and Warfighter collaboration. - Deploy NIC nodes for participation in geographically dispersed live demonstrations, wargames, and ground/flight tests. - Provide independent government performance evaluations, prototyping emerging technologies, including simulated exercises, across evolving kinetic and non-kinetic concepts for regional and homeland defense. Low-Cost Interceptor (LCI): - The multi-year program plan is for rapid design, testing, demonstration, and confirm manufacturability and high rate producibility for a low cost, hypersonic missile interceptor. In FY27, efforts include detailed design from multiple vendors and initial fire control system integration. Low-Cost Kill Vehicle: - Initiate development and test components that are significantly lower cost and producible in large quantities with little to no reduction in performance and reliability - Invest in low-cost divert and attitude control systems, seekers, kill effectors, guidance navigation and control, and cooperative engagement algorithms. Low-Cost Kill Booster: - Initiate design and development of advanced boosters to reduce costs and incorporate new technologies that enable higher booster performance. Program will focus on technology that is scalable for high throughput production. Project Maverick: - Conduct flight test up the East Coast using fused multi-phenomenology remote elevated sensor data to track and engage a hypersonic glide vehicle. - Leverage tactical battle manager with edge processing and data fusion to generate engagement quality data enabling engage on remote. - Demonstrate advanced electronic protection and cyber capabilities to ensure a resilient and distributed Missile Defense System. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning for Missile Defense: - Initiate the development of use cases to optimize engagement functions by the warfighter for executing battles with multiple waves, large raids, and structured resource allocation. - Deliver synthetic data to the IAMD community to simulate emerging algorithms and assess viability for Missile Defense System-Next. Automated Battle Management: - Initiate space-based fire control to support non-kinetic engagements. Space Technology Demonstration: - Provide ground, airborne, and/or space-based capability demonstrations of infrared Event-Based Sensors and other technologies for missile defense applications.
Increase from fiscal year (FY) 2026 to FY 2027 provides for accelerated development of advanced capabilities, demonstrations, and prototypes to counter rapidly evolving threats by utilizing investments in disruptive technologies in the areas of advanced sensing, low-cost interceptors, propulsion and kill vehicles, and a National Integrated Air and Missile (IAMD) Center (NIC) that will unify the entire Missile Defense enterprise. Primary increase due to acceleration of the NIC and low-cost interceptor acceleration initiatives. Additional changes include consolidation of the requirements from PE 0603176C ACPA requirements into PE 0603180C.
FY2026: the year under way
Prior-year accomplishments and current-year plans from the same exhibit. Context for the FY2027 plan, not a series — an activity partitions its project exactly in the request year, but can under-cover it in earlier years.
Efforts in support of Disruptive Technology include but not limited to: - Conduct Demonstrations and assessments of multi-mission and Multi-domain missile defense technologies to transition to programs of record. - Invest in Key technologies to enable Over the Horizon Kill Chains and disruptive adversary kill chains. - Invest in enabling technologies to include: -- Leveraging Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning for more effective missile defense system performance. -- Further investments in the development, assessment, and processing techniques of advanced materials for missiles, sensors, and command and control components. -- Additive manufacturing. - Develop radiation hardened components to enable high volume of on-orbit data processing. - Broaden the use and applicability of Electronic Warfare technologies to include High Power Microwave, traditional Radar and radio frequency sensor systems as well as nearfield effects, cyber physical, and space domain for future Missile Defense System concepts. - Increase technology maturation levels and develop prototypes to support near term capabilities for the warfighter. - Initiate Multi-Sensor Capability technologies (Ground-Air-Space) and fundamental future effector technologies (space based, propulsion, non-kinetic). - Integrate digital technology into existing processes, products, and emerging technologies to enable continual, rapid, delivery-driven capability to the warfighter. Congressional Add: Radiation Hardened Microelectronics Development ($17.0 million) - Acquire a flash X-ray system to enhance MDA's Next Generation Space Systems research and development testing capabilities in environments characterized by space and nuclear radiation. Congressional Add: Wide-area Infrared Surveillance Systems ($14.0 million) - Develop and mature innovative and affordable infrared sensor concepts based on next generation technologies to insert into future surveillance architectures for missile defense. Congressional Add: Advanced Energetics for Deeply Buried Targets ($4.0 million) - Conduct study and laboratory demonstration to determine optimum material and design for small packing size.
Three years, and no five-year plan
An R-2A activity publishes the prior year, the current year and the budget year. The FYDP outyears exist at project and program-element level and are deliberately absent here rather than inferred. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 49.5 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 75.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 460.2 |
This activity is 100% of project MD25's FY2027 request and 95% of PE 0603180C'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.
1 activity in project MD25
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.