# Aviation Survivability — Program Element 0603216N

**Program element:** 0603216N  
**Component:** U.S. Navy  
**Appropriation:** 1319 — RDT&E, Navy  
**Budget Activity:** 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603216N

## Summary

U.S. Navy funding falls 17% to a $20.0M request in FY2027 (down from a FY2026 peak), 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 funded it in full. NAWCAD leads the industry work.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 22.9 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 24.1 |
| FY2027 | Request | 20.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 18.2 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 18.4 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 18.3 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 18.8 |

> 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 | 20.0 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 20.0 | +0.0 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 20.0 | +0.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 20.0 | +0.0 |

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

## Projects (4)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0584 | Aircrew Protective Clothing & Devices | 13.5 | 15.2 | 11.3 | −25% |
| 0592 | Acft & Ordnance Safety | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.7 | −2% |
| 0591 | Acft Survivability, Vulnerability & Safety | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.4 | −3% |
| 1819 | CV Acft Fire Suppress System | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | −3% |

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

### Project 0584 — Aircrew Protective Clothing & Devices

Project 0584: Aircrew Protective Clothing & Devices (APCD) is an Advanced Component Development & Prototyping program that develops, matures, and tests advanced technologies that can lead to solutions that maximize aircrew Performance and Protection & Survivability. These efforts lower the technical/cost risks of integrating new technologies prior to formal acquisition program of record initiatives , enhance resulting investment benefits, and speed the delivery of capability to the Fleet. APCD Budget Activity (BA) 4 development, maturation, and integration work is necessary to transition BA 1-3 DoD, external partner, industry, and academia research, technologies, and future naval concept initiatives to BA 5+ operational assessment, integration, testing, evaluation and certification work. APCD funds are also used to establish and maintain critical subject matter expertise, tools, models, and laboratory capabilities that enable objective analysis, assessment, verification and validation of Aircrew Systems solution candidates, ensuring requisite Human and Technology Readiness Levels are achieved. Core activities align across two primary focus areas: Aircrew Performance and Aircrew Protection & Survivability. Aircrew Performance-aligned projects develop state-of-the-art, integrated technologies that improve readiness; mitigate the effects of exposure to environmental stressors; provide advanced sensor data on warfighter physiological and cognitive state; and optimize warfighter physical, physiological, and cognitive performance, effectiveness, and safety. Aircrew Protection & Survivability-aligned projects optimize aircrew protection and survivability across the entire anthropometric population by delivering state-of-the-art personal protective equipment (PPE), crash-worthy seating and harness/restraint systems, and survival systems designed, tested, and integrated to perform in the harshest environmental operating conditions during diverse mission scenarios.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** NAWCAD (8.8, 78%), NAMRUD (2.0, 18%), USAMRAA (0.5, 4.4%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Technology Crew Station | 13.5 | 15.2 | 0.0 |
| Aircrew Performance | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.5 |
| Aircrew Protection & Survivability | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.8 |

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

### Project 0592 — Acft & Ordnance Safety

The Aircraft and Ordnance Safety Program transitions innovative munitions safety technology to Navy and Marine Corps air weapons, to comply with the Chief of Naval Operations direction that all munitions carried aboard Navy ships be insensitive to unplanned stimuli (thermal, impact, and shock events). The Aircraft and Ordnance Safety Program also ensures the safety and protection of personnel, aircraft, ships, and operational facilities, through improved precision targeting, fail-safe ordnance, selective effects munitions and shock/blast force protection technologies.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** NAWCWD (4.7, 100%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insensitive Munitions (IM) | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.7 |

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

### Project 0591 — Acft Survivability, Vulnerability & Safety

Aircraft Survivability, Vulnerability and Safety. This project evaluates and develops prototype hardware and software solutions to improve the survivability of Navy and Marine Corps aircraft. This project addresses the likelihood of an aircraft being hit (susceptibility) and the probability of a kill if the aircraft is hit (vulnerability). Types of programs funded under this project include signature reduction efforts, subsystem and component hardening and development of integrated Aviation Survivability Equipment (iASE) architectures for simulation and training systems. This project also provides an engineering level modeling and simulation capability to assess electronic warfare capabilities and to support future electronic warfare investment strategies. Further, this effort expands upon existing high fidelity Hardware In The Loop (HITL) capability and this expanded capability will enable the assessment of Electronic Warfare (EW) concepts versus future (i.e. not fully defined) threat systems. This project will include the development of new or modification of existing modules which are high fidelity representations of the EW and threat system's components and will support iASE hardware and software research and future technological survivability concepts as they become available.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** NAWCAD (0.9, 26%), SAIC (0.2, 5.3%), SURVICE (0.1, 2.9%), NAWCWD (0.1, 1.5%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technology Requirements | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Technology Design & Development | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Technology Test & Evaluation | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |

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

### Project 1819 — CV Acft Fire Suppress System

This project develops improved fire-fighting systems and fire protective measures for aircraft-related fires on aircraft carriers, including assessment of fire properties, definition of fire threats, improvements to fire-fighting agents and delivery systems, fire detection and suppression system performance evaluations, and fire-fighter training improvements.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** NAWCWD (0.5, 87%), Hughes Associates (0.1, 12%), NRL (0.0, 1.7%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire-Fighting | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |

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

## Where the FY2027 request goes

| Category | Share | $M |
|---|---|---|
| Industry primes | 89% | 17.8 |
| Government labs & warfare centers | 11% | 2.2 |

**Top named industry performers:** NAWCAD ($9.7M, 48%), NAWCWD ($5.3M, 26%), NAMRUD ($2.0M, 10%), USAMRAA ($0.5M, 2.5%).

> R-3 exhibit contract funding, not USAspending obligations.

## Mission & acquisition strategy

Project 0584: Aircrew Protective Clothing & Devices (APCD) is an Advanced Component Development & Prototyping program that develops, matures, and tests advanced technologies that can lead to solutions that maximize aircrew Performance and Protection & Survivability. These efforts lower the technical/cost risks of integrating new technologies prior to formal acquisition program of record initiatives , enhance resulting investment benefits, and speed the delivery of capability to the Fleet.

A combination of WR, CPFF, and MIPR funding paths will be used as appropriate to support APCD efforts to develop, mature, test, and transition advanced technologies.

## Related program elements

- [1160431BB — Warrior Systems](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1160431BB) (Defense-Wide)
- [0604601A — Infantry Support Weapons](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604601A) (Army)
- [0604713A — Combat Feeding, Clothing, and Equipment](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604713A) (Army)
- [0604850N — Ssn(x)](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604850N) (Navy)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0603216N (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0603216N")`.

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