# Project 635321 — C4I and Cyber Battlespace Development & Demonstration

**Program element:** 0603788F — Battlespace Knowledge Development and Demonstration  
**Project:** 635321  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force  
**Appropriation:** 3600 — RDT&E, Air Force  
**Budget Activity:** 3 — Advanced Technology Development  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603788F/635321  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603788F

## Summary

Project 635321 — C4I and Cyber Battlespace Development & Demonstration requests $31.9M in FY2027, 100% of the $31.9M requested for program element 0603788F, up 60% on FY2026. 6 R-2A activities decompose the request, 1 new this cycle.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 44.3 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 19.9 |
| FY2027 | Request | 31.9 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 34.5 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 35.8 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 36.6 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 37.4 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0603788F; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 635321 buys

This Project supports the Department of the Air Force's (DAF) strategic objectives by advancing cutting-edge research technologies critical for achieving multi-domain superiority and operational agility across the full spectrum of military operations. Specifically, it enables the DAF and DoW to: (1) develop and implement Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) capabilities, ensuring seamless integration across land, air, space, and cyber domains for effective joint decision making, command, and operational execution; (2) field and sustain assured, resilient, and high-capacity communications and networks, providing enduring support for global, persistent, and survivable military operations—both kinetic and non-kinetic—critical to maintaining a strategic advantage and operational continuity in contested environments; and (3) design and deploy advanced systems to process, fuse, and exploit real-time data from diverse sources, empowering decision-makers with enhanced situational awareness and enabling rapid, data-driven decisions to outpace adversaries. Beginning in FY 2027, this Project will support the development and deployment of advanced cyber capabilities to ensure superiority in both offensive and defensive operations, as well as to maintain resilience in contested cyber environments. This will ensure operational continuity and effectiveness of military forces across all domains, both in peacetime and in conflict. This will include: (i) Cyber offense capabilities - enabling access, stealth, and persistence within adversary networks, while leveraging advanced intelligence collection and non-kinetic weapons to disrupt, degrade, or destroy enemy capabilities, ensuring strategic advantage in both peacetime and conflict scenarios. (ii) Cyber defense capabilities - establishing robust defenses to detect, attribute, and respond to cyberattacks, ensuring the integrity of critical systems, networks, and data, while actively mitigating threats and neutralizing adversary attempts to compromise U.S. cyber infrastructure. (iii) Cyber resilience capabilities - developing systems and protocols for rapid adaptation, recovery, and sustained survivability of critical assets and operations, ensuring the DAF can continue to function effectively even in the face of sophisticated and persistent cyber threats.

## Activities (R-2A) — 6

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyber Offensive and Defensive Technologies | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.4 | new | [a5](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603788F/635321/a5) |
| Assured Communications & Networks | 6.9 | 6.0 | 7.1 | +18% | — |
| Multi-Domain Sensemaking | 0.0 | 6.0 | 5.3 | −12% | — |
| Combined Joint All-Domain Command & Control | 4.8 | 5.9 | 4.2 | −28% | — |
| Data to Decisions | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — |
| Game Changing Computing Power | 1.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — |

> 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.

### Cyber Offensive and Defensive Technologies — NEW START

- Complete development of 5G cyber operations tool suite for integration into DAF cyber operations platforms, focusing on developing and demonstrating modular, scalable framework. - Complete development of 5G exploitation tools for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and for Offensive Cyber Operations (OCO) capabilities…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603788F/635321/a5

### Assured Communications & Networks

**FY2027 planned work.** - Complete the development of a rapidly deployable SWaP information management system and development of a capability to support data compression, mission prioritization, & intelligent caching over high and low-capacity data links, focusing on conducting demonstrations with multiple waveforms & networks with operationally relevant data, leveraging the mesh networking concept in disaster recovery settings.- Complete advanced development and demonstration of a framework to analyze and evaluate the impacts of degraded/denied/detected connectivity across multi-domain mission threads utilizing heterogenous links, focusing on building the software environment and links connecting multiple networks, building initial scenarios and mission threads. - Complete the development of a multi-spectral, deployable communications system providing high capacity, assured connectivity, focusing on conducting a demonstration for advanced waveform diversity mesh networking capability for survivability in a degraded/destroyed environment. - Commence the advanced development & demonstration of capabilities that enable distributed deconfliction, coordination, & optimization of the electromagnetic spectrum usage across domains & radio frequency modalities.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 funding increased compared to FY 2026 by $1.062 million due to increased investments in the development & demonstration of a communications framework, advanced waveform mesh networking, and a low size, weight, and power (SWaP) information management system.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue the development of a rapidly deployable, low size, weight, and power (SWaP) information management system and development of a capability to support data compression, mission prioritization, & intelligent caching over high and low-capacity data links, focusing on conducting demonstrations with multiple waveforms & networks with operationally relevant data, leveraging the mesh networking concept in disaster recovery settings. - Commence advanced development and demonstration of a framework to analyze and evaluate the impacts of degraded/denied/detected connectivity across multi-domain mission threads utilizing heterogenous links, focusing on building the software environment and links connecting multiple networks, building initial scenarios and mission threads. - Commence the development of a multi-spectral, deployable communications system providing high capacity, assured connectivity, focusing on conducting a demonstration for advanced waveform diversity mesh networking capability for survivability in a degraded/destroyed environment.

### Multi-Domain Sensemaking

**FY2027 planned work.** - Continue integration of targeting and communications technologies for rapid dynamic targeting of high-mobility enemy threat systems, focusing on interoperability between technologies and developing and demonstrating targeting and automated battle damage assessment (BDA) capabilities. - Complete processing at the edge to securely provide real-time analysis of mission data; deploying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation to support dynamic mission planning and enhanced situational awareness; focusing on developing and demonstrating an embedded high performance computing system that simultaneously processes Multi-INT data on airborne platforms to autonomously identify and classify objects of interest. - Complete the development of a technology analysis solution to identify feasible technology required to support future combat assessment operating concepts, focusing on delivering a functional decomposition of combat assessment captured in a modeling language. - Continue advanced development and demonstration of multimodal, interoperable veracity assessment tools, capable of accurately evaluating the credibility of PAI from various modalities (audio, video, text, and IoT devices), and integrating with traditional ISR sources, focusing on developing and refining algorithms for the fusion and clustering of multisource data, and methods of verification.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 decreased compared to FY 2026 by $0.732 million due to minor programmatic adjustments to the DAF Science and Technology portfolio.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue integration of targeting and communications technologies for rapid dynamic targeting of high-mobility enemy threat systems, focusing on interoperability between technologies and developing and demonstrating targeting and automated battle damage assessment (BDA) capabilities. - Commence processing at the edge to securely provide real-time analysis of mission data; deploying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation to support dynamic mission planning and enhanced situational awareness; focusing on developing and demonstrating an embedded high performance computing system that simultaneously processes multiple intelligence (Multi-INT) data on airborne platforms to autonomously identify and classify objects of interest. - Commence the development of a technology analysis solution to identify feasible technology required to support future combat assessment operating concepts, focusing on delivering a functional decomposition of combat assessment captured in a modeling language. - Commence advanced development and demonstration of multimodal, interoperable veracity assessment tools, capable of accurately evaluating the credibility of Publicly Available Information (PAI) from various modalities (audio, video, text, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices), and integrating with traditional intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sources, focusing on developing and refining algorithms for the fusion and clustering of multi-source data, and methods of verification.

### Combined Joint All-Domain Command & Control

**FY2027 planned work.** - Complete advanced development and demonstration of an AI-enhanced planning capability and battle management architecture at a relevant DAF exercise with operationally relevant data to support a common operational picture for selection, tracking, and deployment of AI capabilities in-mission, focusing on demonstrating speech-to-text models and tactical operations centers in operationally relevant environments. - Commence the advanced development & demonstration of technologies for seamless, reliable, distributed and decentralized all-domain command & control capabilities to support adaptive teaming, large-scale autonomous operations, and AI powered warfare.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 funding decreased compared to FY 2026 by $1.669 million due to completed investments in the development & demonstration of a triple component system that supports JASSM capabilities, as well as toolkits that enable distributed Air Operations Center (AOC) in an operational theater.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continue advanced development and demonstration of an artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced planning capability and battle management architecture at a relevant DAF exercise with operationally relevant data to support a common operational picture for selection, tracking, and deployment of AI capabilities in-mission, focusing on demonstrating speech-to-text models and tactical operations centers in operationally relevant environments. - Complete advanced development and demonstration of a triple component system to support both single Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and multi-JASSM planning from airborne platforms, including small-scale Standoff Munition Application Center (SMAC) exercise and large SMAC planning exercise.

### Data to Decisions

**FY2027 planned work.** Not applicable

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Not applicable

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Not applicable

### Game Changing Computing Power

**FY2027 planned work.** Not applicable

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Not applicable

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Not applicable

## 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/0603788F.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0603788F project 635321 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0603788F")`.

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