# Affordable Mission Availability

**R-2A activity** of project 635280 — Manufacturing Technologies  
**Program element:** 0603680F — Manufacturing Technologies  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force · **Budget Activity:** 3  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603680F/635280/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603680F

## Summary

This activity requests $11.6M in FY2027, 12% of project 635280, down 2.8% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** - Complete the advancement of high demand specialized manufacturing technologies including additive manufacturing, robotics and automation to develop cost effective conventional production, overhaul, and specialty material repair technologies to enable affordable sustainment of legacy aircraft systems. - Continue the development of cost-effective manufacturing and repair processes such as modular battery manufacturing, turbine engine repair processes, and automation to reduce touch labor to meet specific needs of Programs of Record and depots to increase mission availability due to decreased maintenance down time. Activities include: -- Validation of the performance of radio frequency (RF) photonics cable technology for electronic warfare systems delivering an 8x reduction in maintenance labor and 75% weight savings as compared to traditional RF coax cables. - Complete the development and transition of manufacturing technologies to meet the performance and production demands of hypersonic weapons and components. Content responsive to Program Executive Officer (PEO) needs of multiple fielded systems as well as future systems and includes developing manufacturing processes for high temperature windows, weapons structure, major subsystems and sensors. - Continue the development and demonstration of the manufacturability of materials, processes and devices for command and control communication technologies, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, and RF, digital and high-power electronic devices. Activities include: -- Development of qualification lots and delivery of prototype test results of low-cost advanced transceivers used to create affordable mass electronic warfare effects that counter current and future threat systems. - Finalize wafer process and packaging development efforts for pervasive compact RF photonic components enabling a 100x production capacity increase, 10x cost savings, and 5x performance improvement. Activities include: -- Maturation of manufacturing processes to manufacturing readiness level (MRL) 6 for a specialized electronic transistor resulting in a 4x yield improvement and a 50% cost reduction. This technology will extend the operational frequency range providing ultra-high data rates and higher resolution for imaging, precision radars, and remote sensing applications. -- Reduction in the manufacturing efforts that validate advanced electronic warfare capabilities for future weapon systems. - In collaboration with industry Primes and their suppliers, continue development new manufacturing methods, technologies and processes to solve cost and manufacturing rate issues that are likely to cause future production failures of Department of the Air Force programs of record. Examples include developing additional manufacturing sources for bottleneck components that drive low production yields and long delays, particularly in high volume advanced aircraft and rapid production munitions programs. The pervasive application of this research to multiple programs of record explains funding in the Manufacturing Technologies program rather than in individual programs of record. Activities include: -- Expansion of the Defense Industrial Base for transparency systems by establishing critical manufacturing processes at a new supplier. Complete development of an advanced coating system tailored to meet specific weapon system requirements and a demonstration of the coating operation at 50% scale.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Funding in FY 2027 decreased compared to FY 2026 by $0.335 million due to completion of research for high demand specialized manufacturing technologies for affordable sustainment of legacy systems and transitioning manufacturing technologies for hypersonic weapons and components. This reduction reflects programmatic adjustments to the DAF Science and Technology portfolio for strategic realignment to optimize core research areas and improve resource efficiency.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue the advancement of high demand specialized manufacturing technologies including additive manufacturing, robotics and automation to develop cost effective conventional production, overhaul, and specialty material repair technologies to enable affordable sustainment of legacy aircraft systems. - Continue the development of cost-effective manufacturing and repair processes such as modular battery manufacturing, turbine engine repair processes, and automation to reduce touch labor to meet specific needs of Programs of Record and depots to increase mission availability due to decreased maintenance down time. - Continue the development and transition of manufacturing technologies to meet the performance and production demands of hypersonic weapons and components. Content responsive to Program Executive Office (PEO) needs of multiple fielded systems as well as future systems and includes developing manufacturing processes for high temperature windows, weapons structure, major subsystems and sensors. - Continue the development and demonstration of the manufacturability of materials, processes and devices for command and control communication technologies, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, and radio frequency (RF), digital and high power electronic devices. - Continue manufacturing technologies for high temperature sensors and windows. - In collaboration with industry Primes and their suppliers, develop new manufacturing methods, technologies and processes to solve cost and manufacturing rate issues that are likely to cause future production failures of Department of the Air Force programs of record. Examples include developing additional manufacturing sources for bottleneck components that drive low production yields and long delays, particularly in high volume advanced aircraft and rapid production munitions programs. The pervasive application of this research to multiple programs of record explains funding in the Manufacturing Technologies program rather than in individual programs of record.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 16.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 12.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 11.6 |

> 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 635280

- [Advanced Battery Manufacturing and Technologies](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603680F/635280/a3) — FY2027 53.6
- [Manufacturing for the Future Force](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603680F/635280/a2) — FY2027 18.1
- [Advanced Manufacturing Technologies](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603680F/635280/a1) — FY2027 16.5

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0603680F project 635280 (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.*