# Project AET-03 — ADVANCED CYBER SYSTEMS

**Program element:** 0603469E — Advanced Enabling Technologies  
**Project:** AET-03  
**Component:** Defense-Wide  
**Appropriation:** 0400 — RDT&E, Defense-Wide  
**Budget Activity:** 3 — Advanced Technology Development  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E/AET-03  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E

## Summary

Project AET-03 — ADVANCED CYBER SYSTEMS requests $61.3M in FY2027, 19% of the $331.0M requested for program element 0603469E, up 11% on FY2026. 5 R-2A activities decompose the request.

## Funding profile

| 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 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0603469E; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## 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.

## Activities (R-2A) — 5

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constellation | — | 20.0 | 25.0 | +25% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E/AET-03/a0) |
| Advanced Cyber Security Studies and Concepts | — | 3.1 | 16.1 | +412% | [a1](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E/AET-03/a1) |
| Advanced Cyber Operations Studies and Concepts | — | 4.9 | 14.8 | +204% | [a2](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E/AET-03/a2) |
| Resilient Software Systems Capstones (RSS Capstones) | — | 15.8 | 5.4 | −66% | — |
| Carcosa | — | 11.7 | — | −100% | — |

> Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. In the request year they partition this project exactly; in earlier years they can under-cover it.

### Constellation

- 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…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E/AET-03/a0

### Advanced Cyber Security Studies and Concepts

- 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…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E/AET-03/a1

### Advanced Cyber Operations Studies and Concepts

- 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…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E/AET-03/a2

### Resilient Software Systems Capstones (RSS Capstones)

**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.

### Carcosa

**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.

## What is NOT on this page

Congressional marks, the R-2 mission description and acquisition strategy, the industry vs government split of the whole request, and related program elements are recorded at **program-element** grain — an NDAA mark lands on a PE, never on a project. They are at https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603469E.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0603469E project AET-03 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0603469E")`.

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