What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 634094 of PE 0603273F. 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.
- Continue developing enhanced aeroshell modeling computational tools to simulate nuclear re-entry system environments, which will in turn support evolving GRD testing capabilities. This work relies on foundational computational efforts within PE 0602336F, Nuclear Delivery Systems Tech Exploration. - Continue the coupling of software and hardware developments for near-future GRD ground testing data validation. - Continue the computational characterization of nuclear re-entry system environments and update existing integrated solvers for enhanced analyses. Enhancements will include advanced physics-based re-entry characterization algorithms that will decrease computational expense, thus optimizing simulation and computation times. - Continue laboratory experiment code validation to improve confidence in nuclear re-entry system environmental predictions. - Continue procuring material samples and conducting laboratory experiments to systematically inform and supplement existing nuclear re-entry system materials databases. - Continue the progressive identification of requirements and conduct design trade studies to support the development of high lateral acceleration (high-g) and boost glide Government Reference Design (GRD) platforms. - Continue manufacturing process trade studies and analyses, as well as model-based systems engineering, for risk reduction in future GRD engineering developments. - Continue identifying environmental requirements for component design and integration into multiple-use future launch platforms. - Continue test-bed design trade studies and modifications, including instrumentation options for future flight characterizations and analyses. - Continue design trade studies for graduated test-bed designs and modifications, including evaluation of instrumentation options for future flight characterization and analyses requirements. - Continue trade studies for novel material fabrication processes for delivery platform nose tips, leading edges, and control surfaces. - Continue the acquisition of long-lead items, including additional Thermal Protection Systems, for the preliminary construction of long-glide and high lateral acceleration (high-g) Government Reference Vehicles (GRV). - Continue risk reduction launch systems demonstration flights. - Complete planning for a combined environment effects test campaign to evaluate materials performance in relevant combined environments. - Complete investigating sourcing options for external aeroshell materials and high temperature GRD components. - Complete the initial acquisition of a long-lead Thermal Protection System, for foundational construction of long-glide and high lateral acceleration (high-g) GRVs. - Complete the initial acquisition of a long-lead Thermal Protection System for a boost-glide GRV. - Complete computational material requirements studies to predict combined environment effects. - Commence integration of payloads into initial GRD aeroshell.
This effort increases by $29.222 million from FY 2026 to FY 2027 to support the increased development and procurement of materials for multiple designs of the high lateral acceleration (high-g) and boost glide GRDs. Growing requirements dictate the need for three delivery vehicles for each GRD in order to meet strategic re-entry environment requirements outlined in the twenty-five (25)-year roadmap jointly developed between the DAF and the U.S. Navy, in accordance with strategic guidance provided by the Office of the Undersecretary of War (OUSW) for Research and Engineering (R&E) in FY 2023.
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.
- Continue developing enhanced aeroshell modeling computational tools to simulate nuclear re-entry system environments, which in turn will support evolving Government Reference Design (GRD) testing capabilities. This work relies on foundational computational efforts within PE 0602336F, Nuclear Delivery Systems Tech Exploration. - Continue the coupling of software and hardware outputs for near-future GRD ground testing data validation. - Continue the computational characterization of nuclear re-entry system environments and update existing integrated solvers for enhanced analyses. Enhancements will include advanced physics-based re-entry characterization algorithms that will decrease computational expense, thus optimizing simulation and computation times. - Continue laboratory experiment code validation to improve confidence in nuclear re-entry system environmental predictions. - Continue procuring material samples and conducting laboratory experiments to systematically inform and supplement existing nuclear re-entry system materials databases. - Continue computational material requirements studies to predict combined environmental effects on prospective nuclear re-entry system materials. - Continue planning for a combined environment effects test campaign to evaluate materials performance in relevant combined environments. - Continue the progressive identification of requirements and conduct design trade studies to support the development of high lateral acceleration (high-g) and boost glide Government Reference Design (GRD) platforms. - Continue manufacturing process trade studies and analyses, as well as model-based systems engineering, for risk reduction in future GRD engineering developments. - Continue investigating sourcing options for external aeroshell materials and high-temperature GRD components. - Continue identifying environmental requirements for component design and integration into multiple-use future launch platforms. - Continue test-bed design trade studies and modifications, including instrumentation options for future flight characterizations and analyses. - Complete the initial long-glide GRD and begin constructing the program's first GRV for near-future flight experiments. - Commence design trade studies for graduated test-bed designs and modifications, including evaluation of instrumentation options for future flight characterization and analyses requirements. - Commence trade studies for novel material fabrication processes for delivery platform nose tips, leading edges, and control surfaces. - Commence the acquisition of long-lead items, including Thermal Protection Systems, for the preliminary construction of long-glide and high lateral acceleration (high-g) Government Reference Vehicles (GRV). - Commence delivery of a representative mass mock of the long-glide GRD for risk-reduction launch system demonstration flight.
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 | 56.9 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 67.3 |
| FY2027 | Request | 96.6 |
This activity is 58% of project 634094's FY2027 request and 58% of PE 0603273F'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 634094
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 program-element page.