What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 2297 of PE 0603640M. 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.
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 operated cargo drone that supports organic resupply via an aerial cargo vehicle. - Continue specialized payload development for Group 2 and 3 UAS organic to tactical units for extended endurance, increased lethality, and developmental testing. Focus areas include platform development and integration of UAS sub-systems into a FITC to close kill chains across the Coalition, Joint and Naval Kill Webs. Efforts will provide full end-to-end integration and flight demonstration of objective Group 3 ISR capability to inform Organic Group 3 ISR requirements. Robotic Autonomous Command and Control (C2): - Re-initiate investigations into providing a de-centralized multi-unmanned system (UxS) (air, ground, surface) manager, enabling UxSs to act collaboratively within and across domains and team with manned operations. Focus areas include integration of multi-function payloads as well as gear development. - Initiate development of an autonomous turret for a ground vehicle that will use AI object detection/recognition software and weapons engagement algorithms. Efforts include generator integration, field ranger testing, Weapon Systems Explosive Safety Review Board (WSESRB) approval, and payload development. Fused Integrated Networking: - Continue development and experimentation using an aerial communications gateway platform. Information Operations: - Continue to develop and enhance capabilities to increase situational awareness and influence decision making. Focus areas include providing a dynamic, modular, AI-powered joint targeting system and battle management command and control (C2) system designed to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in military operations by streamlining decision-making and resource allocation across the kill-chain in high-intensity conflicts. - Continue to investigate technologies and experimentation opportunities to support the operational utility of artificial intelligence/machine learning algorithms. Artificial Intelligence (AI): - Continue to leverage joint Component investments to provide/promote AI support/use for MCWL concept-based experimentation. Space: - Continue to develop capabilities to conduct electronic warfare in support of MAGTF operations. - Continue the construct and experimentation of integrated targeting cells. - Continue FITC development to enhance the tactical-national interfaces that can support the over-the-horizon awareness, identification, and targeting in stressing environments. Prototypes will demonstrate tactical and resilient networking and processing capabilities that can work with national, commercial, and in-theater tactical feeds to increase capabilities operating at the tactical edge. - Continue investigations, demonstrations, and experimentation of proliferated LEO communications as well as support the integration of C2 architectures onto multiple expeditionary platforms. - Continue the development of transit-cased variant of FITC capabilities. - Complete investigations to search and receive messages transmitted outside standard frequency assignments and forward to deployed forces within the EABO construct. - Complete developmental efforts to support redundant command and control in contested and degraded environments. - Initiate development of a resilient, high-bandwidth communication system that leverages laser-based free-space optical links to ensure reliable connectivity in denied, degraded, intermittent, or limited (DDIL) environments.
The funding increase from FY 2026 to FY 2027 is mainly attributable to increased investments in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) development and integration and Space related developmental efforts.
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.
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs): - Complete testing and demonstrating a heavy fuel engine to expand Department of the Navy (DoN) organic ship-board operations. - Continue to explore, expand mission sets, and exploit the tactical potential of small UASs across multiple Marine Corps domains. - Continue to explore Group 2 fixed wing and vertical take-off-and-landing (VTOL) payload development. - Continue efforts to provide a highly automated/autonomously operated cargo drone that supports organic resupply via an aerial cargo vehicle. - Continue specialized payload development for Group 2 and 3 UAS organic to tactical units for extended endurance, increased lethality, and developmental testing. Focus on the development and testing of payload/sensor combinations optimized for maritime ISR and target acquisition. In addition, evaluate ISR capabilities at relevant distances. Robotic Autonomous Command and Control (C2): - Complete investigation and experimentation with enabling technologies combining sensor and telemetry data from multiple unmanned platforms. Fused Integrated Networking: - Continue development and experimentation using an aerial communications gateway platform. Focus on extending and closing kill-webs for distributed units and enabling resilient communications in spectrum contested/denied environments. Information Operations: - Continue to develop and enhance capabilities to increase situational awareness and influence decision making. - Continue to investigate technologies and experimentation opportunities to support the operational utility of artificial intelligence/machine learning algorithms. Artificial Intelligence (AI): - Continue to leverage joint Component investments to provide/promote AI support/use for MCWL concept-based experimentation, specifically investigating a dynamic, modular, AI-powered joint targeting systems designed to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of military operations. Space: - Continue to develop capabilities to conduct electronic warfare in support of MAGTF operations. - Continue the construct and experimentation of integrated targeting cells. - Continue investigations to search and receive messages transmitted outside standard frequency assignments and forward to deployed forces within the Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) construct. - Continue Family of Integrated Targeting Cells (FITC) development. - Continue developmental efforts to support redundant command and control in contested and degraded environments. - Continue investigations, demonstrations, and experimentation of proliferated Low Earth Orbit (LEO) communications as well as support the integration of C2 architectures onto multiple expeditionary platforms. - Initiate the development of transit-cased variant of FITC capabilities. Intelligence Community Directive 705 (ICD-705): - Complete experimentation of temporary ICD-705 solutions to support the forward edge in the convergence of operations and intelligence across multiple levels of classification in support of the FITC.
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 | 16.5 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 13.9 |
| FY2027 | Request | 28.8 |
This activity is 17% of project 2297's FY2027 request and 10% of PE 0603640M'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.
6 activities in project 2297
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 project page.