What project AET-03 buys
The Advanced Cyber Systems project develops, implements, and demonstrates techniques, tools, and frameworks for the full range of cyber operations. Cyber is now ubiquitous to warfighting. For non-kinetic operations in advance of lethal conflict, cyber can be a powerful enabler of operations that limit adversary options and deter adversary actions. For kinetic operations during lethal conflict, cyber can be a force multiplier and provide an asymmetric advantage. The Advanced Cyber Systems project aims to create operational prototypes based on the cyber technology developed in applied research programs in the private sector and in academia. The utility of the operational prototypes that are developed in this project will be assessed, and improvements will be made, based on demonstrations and evaluations conducted in collaboration with warfighters, acquisition programs, and combatant commands. Prior to FY 2026, efforts in this Project were funded in PE 0603760E, Project CCC-05.
Project AET-03 funding, FY2025–FY2031
Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 0.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 55.5 |
| FY2027 | Request | 61.3 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 173.6 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 273.5 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 279.0 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 300.5 |
5 accomplishments / planned programs
The R-2A exhibit — the only level of the budget that describes work that has not happened yet. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only, no five-year plan. 3 of them describe FY2027 work in enough detail to have their own page; the rest are shown here in full. Coverage is partial across the corpus, so count activities, never total them.
- Refine and integrate cyber operational prototypes with established DoW programs and systems to create a cohesive, robust, and effective cyber warfighting architecture. - Develop, test, evaluate, and operationalize cyber technologies, prototypes, and capabilities in collaboration with DoW cyber stakeholders. - Coordinate with U.S. cyber…
Read the FY2027 plan →- Use formal analysis to prove the fidelity of scanned electronic devices. - Develop scalable software analysis, sandboxing, and surveillance techniques to secure software development. - Mitigate vulnerabilities to secure Department of War infrastructure. - Use models of emergent communications as the basis for networks with strong…
Read the FY2027 plan →- Develop techniques for reasoning about the circuitry inside devices. - Develop automated operational cyber reasoning to enable decisive cyber maneuver warfare. - Develop an automated exploit development platform. - Develop cyber weapons with provable performance guarantees. - Develop techniques to cause hallucinations in adversary AI…
Read the FY2027 plan →FY2027 planned work - Document formal methods-based development and sustainment techniques in best practices guides that facilitate adoption by the DoW and DIB.
FY2026 to FY2027 change The FY 2027 decrease reflects the shift from formal methods-based development to creation of DoW and DIB best practices guides.
FY2026 plans — current year - Demonstrate the use of formal methods-based proofs to enable granular ATO and quantify the cost and time of granular sustainment for comparison with the cost and time of ATO with block updates. - Collaborate with DoW stakeholders to make the formal methods-based tools widely available and to institutionalize their use across the DoW and DIB. - Demonstrate code repair and integration capabilities and collect performance metrics, such as development and ATO time and cost for high assurance military software systems.
FY2026 to FY2027 change The FY 2027 decrease reflects program completion.
FY2026 plans — current year - Improve durability of form factor to ensure survivability in real operational contexts. - Evaluate and demonstrate improved technologies to military stakeholders and potential transition partners.