What project 2297 buys
The mission of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory / Futures Directorate (MCWL/FD) is to examine future operating environments to generate threat-informed operating concepts and capabilities and, through experimentation, provide analytically supported recommendations to inform future force design and development activities. The Deputy Commandant, Combat Development and Integration (DC, CD&I) is the United States Marine Corps (USMC) advocate for Science and Technology (S&T). MCWL's Commanding General (CG) is the proponent of USMC S&T and serves as the USMC Executive Agent for Marine Corps S&T. The MCWL/FD also serves as the Marine Corps' liaison to the Joint Staff for Joint Concept Development and Experimentation; thereby, facilitating service-specific experiments as well as participation in joint service experimentation. As reflected in strategic guidance, expeditionary forces will provide an ever-ready quick strike force to protect United States (US) interests. MCWL/FD pursues concepts, capabilities, and solutions to ensure that Marines of the future force will be effectively organized, trained, and equipped to win across the range of military operations in an uncertain and complex environment. Prioritized investments in S&T are necessary to enable the future Marine Corps and maintain a technological advantage over our adversaries. This project is organized into 6 activities, the core of which are represented by the Warfighting Capability Areas of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). The project emphasizes development and demonstration of advanced technology capability concepts, and the examination of their operational application and military utility in the context of formal wargames, Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis (MS&A), and live-force field experimentation with Marines. This operational experimentation directly supports Marine Corps combat development to inform future capability requirements and optimize the acquisition process.
Project 2297 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 | 131.5 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 218.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 166.3 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 125.2 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 124.8 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 126.1 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 127.9 |
6 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. 4 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.
Wargaming: - Continue to sustain the WarNet stand-alone network to maintain the ability to conduct classified wargames "on the road". - Complete transition of principal wargaming functions to the sponsorship of the Marine Corps' Robert B. Neller Center for Wargaming and Analysis. This includes overall wargaming planning, coordination…
Read the FY2027 plan →Unmanned Logistics and Defense: - Continue development and experimentation with highly autonomous and synchronous logistics capabilities. Focus areas include development, testing, and experimentation with a semi-submersible craft designed to support a payload of 8 to 10 tons. - Continue to assess execution of high tempo unmanned…
Read the FY2027 plan →Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs): - Continue to explore, expand mission sets, and exploit the tactical potential of small UASs across multiple Marine Corps domains. Focus areas include lethality development. - Continue to explore Group 2 fixed wing and VTOL payload development. - Continue efforts to provide a highly automated/autonomously…
Read the FY2027 plan →Technical Support: - Continue to provide a full range of overarching, lab-wide, engineering, analytical, technical, management, and business services; directly related to live-force experimentation. Focus areas include liaison with Fleet counterparts to identify operational shortfalls and requirements that need to be fulfilled by…
Read the FY2027 plan →FY2027 planned work Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV): - Continue to provide a multi-purposed UGV, with modular payload architectures. - Continue to integrate POR and non-POR payloads for the UGV platform that enhance dismounted units across the warfighting functions. - Continue to perform tests, demonstrations, and assessments prior to dedicated live-force experimentation. Aerial Munitions: - Continue to pursue company level precision guided munitions. Multi-Domain Fires: - Continue the examination and testing of precision guided munitions. - Complete large-scale experimentation of low-cost munitions.
FY2026 to FY2027 change The funding decrease from FY 2026 to FY 2027 is directly attributable to completing Multi-Domain Fires related low-cost munitions large-scale experimentation. Project has successfully transitioned to Budget Activity 4 - 0604320M - Marine Corps Rapid Prototyping Capability.
FY2026 plans — current year Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV): - Continue to provide a multi-purposed UGV, with modular payload architectures. Efforts focus on a fully autonomous UGV that can provide long-range land movement and wet-gap crossing, satisfying full mission sets such as communications relay, armed reconnaissance, and logistics resupply. - Continue to integrate POR and non-POR payloads for the UGV platform that enhance dismounted units across the warfighting functions. - Continue to perform tests, demonstrations, and assessments prior to dedicated live-force experimentation. Aerial Munitions: - Complete experimentation with fully autonomous, remotely operated UASs that serves as a dual day and night…
FY2027 planned work Integrated C2: - Continue experimentation with an expeditionary transportable communications platform. Focus areas include providing disadvantaged units with an organic, persistent capability to receive, process, and disseminate digital information from organic sensors which provide connectivity to relevant/actionable target information. - Continue development of persistent SATCOM point-of-presence to enable EAB, DMO, and JADC2 experimentation. - Continue integration of a pLEO satellite constellation capability which will facilitate connectivity to elements of the FITC and other pLEO enabled platforms and agencies. - Initiate investigations into the ability to disseminate and share track…
FY2026 to FY2027 change The funding increase from FY 2025 to FY 2026 is directly attributable to Integrated C2 efforts, specifically the initialization of investigations into the ability to disseminate and share track and target data between joint, coalition, and allied partners at the tactical level.
FY2026 plans — current year Asymmetric Command and Control (C2): - Complete efforts to provide and assess secure "one-to-many" (netted) PTT voice and C4 data services to disadvantaged users with no reliance on local ground infrastructure. - Complete mission play-back capabilities for enhanced analysis and training. - Complete development and limited technical assessments with an expeditionary transportable communications platform. - Complete mini-crypto development. Integrated C2: - Continue experimentation with an expeditionary transportable communications platform. - Continue development of persistent satellite communications (SATCOM) point-of-presence to enable Expeditionary Advanced Base (EAB), Distributed…