# Developmental Engineering

**R-2A activity** of project EV7 — Combat Vehicle Prototyping  
**Program element:** 0603645A — Armored System Modernization - Adv Dev  
**Component:** U.S. Army · **Budget Activity:** 4  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603645A/EV7/a1  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603645A

## Summary

This activity requests $19.9M in FY2027, 84% of project EV7, up 93% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2025–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** This funding will further refine Developmental Engineering efforts to include but not limited to Advanced Combat Vehicle Concepts, enable faster prototyping and fielding of critical capabilities, integrate emerging technology into formations to innovate, and refine requirements with Vehicle Excursions, Aided Target Detection and Recognition (AiTDR), Segmented Composite Rubber Track (S-CRT), Vehicle Base Kits (VBK) Gen 3, Virtual Operator/Maintainer, Virtual Fielder, Active Protection System Sensing (APS) and other combat vehicle technology advancement efforts. These advanced development efforts will include performance analysis, trade space analysis, capabilities assessments, and hardware demonstrations to support the emerging technologies to support the Army's Modernization Strategy. Additionally, include the maturation of the Ground Common Infrastructure Architecture (GCIA), Small Form Factor Common Compute, data architecture and open architecture standards.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 funding increase is due to continuing activities for Advanced Combat Vehicle Concepts efforts, Virtual Operator/Maintainer, Virtual Fielder, the maturation of the Ground Common Infrastructure Architecture (GCIA), Small Form Factor Common Compute, and Vehicle Excursions while initiating activities for Aided Target Detection and Recognition (AiTDR), Segmented Composite Rubber Track (S-CRT), Vehicle Base Kits (VBK) Gen 3, and other activities.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** This funding will further refine Developmental Engineering efforts to include but not limited to Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) Protected Comms, Advanced Combat Vehicle Concepts, Autonomous Vehicles, Advanced Combat Vehicle Concepts, Combat Vehicle Light-weighting, Compound Eye, Vehicle Excursions, Aided Target Detection and Recognition (AiTDR), Threat Warning Sensor integration, Segmented Composite Rubber Track (S-CRT), Virtual Operator/Maintainer, Active Protection System Sensing (APS) and other combat vehicle technology advancement efforts. These advanced development efforts will include performance analysis, trade space analysis, capabilities assessments, and hardware demonstrations to support the emerging technologies to support the Army's Modernization Strategy. Additionally, include the maturation of the Ground Common Infrastructure Architecture (GCIA), Small Form Factor Common Compute, data architecture and open architecture standards.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** This funding further refined Advanced Combat Powertrain (ACP) maturation, which is comprised of the Advanced Combat Engine (ACE) and the Advanced Combat Transmission (ACT). Abrams A1E3 is slated to use the ACT as part of the base platform. Another potential transition partner for this effort is XM30 but could be applied to other combat vehicle platforms. Other Developmental Engineering efforts include but are not limited to Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) Protected Comms, Vehicle Excursions, Advanced Combat Vehicle Concepts, Combat Vehicle Light-weighting, Combat Optimization for Robotic Systems, Autonomy, Integration, and Reliability (CORSAIR), small-scale, system-of-systems demonstration and other combat vehicle technology advancement efforts. These advanced development efforts did support performance analysis, trade space analysis, capabilities assessments, and hardware demonstrations of the emerging technologies for the Army's Modernization Strategy. Additionally, these efforts supported the maturation of the Ground Common Infrastructure Architecture (GCIA), data architecture and the continued refinement and maturation of open architecture standards.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 7.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 10.3 |
| FY2027 | Request | 19.9 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Other activities in project EV7

- Government Engineering & Program Management — FY2027 2.7
- Test & Evaluation — FY2027 1.0

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0603645A project EV7 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

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