What project S54 buys
The Small Arms Improvement Advanced Component Development and Prototypes (ACD&P) program provides funds to mature, demonstrate, test and evaluate emerging technology from Budget Activity (BA) 3 Program Element (PE) 0603607A Joint Service Small Arms Program (JSSAP) Project 627 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Department of Energy National Laboratories, DEVCOMs and other domestic and foreign sources for small arms weapon systems and technology. Small Arms Improvement supports the Army Modernization priorities through enhancement of Joint Lethality in contested environments by minimizing and eliminating erosion of close combat capability relative to peer competitors in complex terrain as outlined in the National Defense Strategy (NDS). Small and medium weapon systems include weapons ranging up to 40 millimeter in caliber, recoilless rifles, remote weapon systems and chain guns. These efforts focus on improving and maturing designs to enhance lethality, target acquisition and tracking, fire control, usability, training effectiveness and reliability, to include system ammunition and counter unmanned aerial technologies, when developing and/or evaluating standard and non-standard weapon systems. Maturing of technologies through testing and evaluation of sub-system or system prototypes includes advanced lightweight materials, thermal solutions, passive range finders, observation/situational awareness improvements, human-systems integration, robotic armament capabilities, non-lethal capabilities, advanced laser protection for optics, and equipment enhancements. Benefits include continuous improvements to small arms weapon systems, remote weapon systems, fire control equipment, optics, gun barrels, training devices, suppressors, component mounts, weapon mounts, ancillary items and weapon/ammunition/fire control interfaces. Remote Weapon Systems transitions to CPE Autonomy in FY2027.
- Management Services
- Product Development
- Support
- Test and Evaluation
Project S54 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 | 7.7 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 21.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 31.6 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 9.0 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 9.1 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 9.1 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 9.2 |
5 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. 1 of them describes FY2027 work in enough detail to have its own page; the rest are shown here in full. Coverage is partial across the corpus, so count activities, never total them.
Will continue to assess advanced machine gun technologies, hardware and prototypes developed under previous efforts. Will continue to pilot and employ market research, acquire and further develop prototype hardware, and conduct evaluations for novel technologies and/or weapon systems that will apply to emerging future medium machine gun…
Read the FY2027 plan →FY2027 planned work New Weapons and Enabling Technology Evaluations and Assessments will continue to assess and evaluate selected capabilities and improvements for all current and legacy weapon systems. Will assess technologies associated with capability to defeat personnel in defilade, personnel in close quarters, and unmanned aerial systems. Will continue to conduct market research for technologies and/or weapon systems that meet emerging requirements. Will acquire and develop prototype hardware for testing and conduct evaluations, trade studies, and assessments for counter-defilade technologies to address capability needs.
FY2026 to FY2027 change FY 2027 funding decrease due to alignment of funding to support emerging requirements for precision grenadier system and counter unmanned aerial system capabilities.
FY2026 plans — current year Enhanced system for remote weapon systems (RWS) and counter-unmanned aerial system weapons will continue development of enhanced sensor packages to improve target identification range. This program will also continue software development to integrate counter unmanned aerial system kinetic defeat functionality into the CROWS baseline technology refresh software. Conduct assessments of Ultra Lightweight RWS capability needs. CROWS integration work for medium caliber and efforts towards a common controller for remote weapon systems (RWS). New Weapons and Enabling Technology Evaluations and Assessments will continue to assess and evaluate selected capabilities and improvements for all current…
FY2025 accomplishments Enhanced systems for remote weapon systems and counter-unmanned aerial system weapons continued to enhance sensor packages to improve target identification range, and software development to integrate counter unmanned aerial system kinetic defeat functionality into the CROWS baseline technology refresh software. New weapons and enabling technology evaluations and assessments: Continued assessing and evaluating selected capabilities and improvements for current and legacy weapon systems. Completed assessment of trivalent chrome barrel to transition a vessel plating system capable of multi-barrel plating of ionic trivalent hard chrome on small caliber barrels from 5.56mm up to 0.50 cal with…
FY2027 planned work Will continue to support technology development for future next generation weapon variants addressing operational force needs for increased lethality, increased probability of hit, increased soldier acceptance, decreased signature, reduced recoil, reduced soldier aim error, and reduced engagement time. Will continue to support technology integration with next generation weapons addressing soldier aim error, engagement time, probability of hit, situational awareness, lethality, and soldier acceptance. Iterative prototyping will be utilized to develop component technologies to support future variants of the Next Generation Squad Weapon. Technology may include enhanced sensor-based technology…
FY2026 to FY2027 change FY 2027 funding decrease due to alignment of funding to support emerging requirements for precision grenadier system and counter unmanned aerial system capabilities.
FY2026 plans — current year Will continue to support technology development for future next generation weapon variants addressing operational force needs for increased lethality, increased probability of hit, increased soldier acceptance, decreased signature, reduced recoil, reduced soldier aim error, and reduced engagement time. Will continue to support technology integration with next generation weapons addressing soldier aim error, engagement time, probability of hit, situational awareness, lethality, and soldier acceptance. Iterative prototyping will be utilized to develop component technologies to support future variants of the Next Generation Squad Weapon. Technology may include enhanced camera-based technology…
FY2025 accomplishments Next Generation Fire Control Technology Enhancements will continued to support technology integration with next generation weapons addressing soldier aim error, engagement time, probability of hit, situational awareness, lethality, and soldier acceptance. Iterative prototyping was utilized to develop component technologies to support future variants of the Next Generation Squad Weapons. Technology may include enhanced camera based technology, target tracking, automatic target detection, increased networked lethality, reduced signature, increased user acceptance, along with other emerging weapon, ammunition, and fire control technologies that will increase the lethality of the next…
FY2027 planned work Advanced Combat Optics is planned to complete integration with current and emerging target acquisition, sensing and ballistic calculation component technologies such as, but not limited to rifle optics, binoculars and variable magnification spotting scopes in support of legacy and emerging weapon systems. Will continue to evaluate state of the art advances in optical component technologies for inclusion in future combat optic products such as lightweight lens technology, materials or manufacturing techniques to achieve lightweight housings, advanced hazard and threat protection, and other improvements. The Army is planning to execute a sensor-based weapon sight for machine guns.
FY2026 to FY2027 change FY 2027 funding decrease due to alignment of funding to support emerging requirements for precision grenadier system and counter unmanned aerial system capabilities.
FY2026 plans — current year Advanced Combat Optics will continue to integrate current and emerging target acquisition, sensing and ballistic calculation component technologies such as, but not limited to rifle optics, binoculars and variable magnification spotting scopes in support of legacy and emerging weapon systems. Will continue to evaluate state of the art advances in optical component technologies for inclusion in future combat optic products such as lightweight lens technology, lightweight housing material, advanced hazard and threat protection, and others. The Army is planning to execute a sensor-based weapon sight for machine guns.
FY2025 accomplishments Advanced Combat Optics continued to integrate current and emerging target acquisition, sensing and ballistic calculation component technologies such as, but not limited to rifle optics, binoculars and variable magnification spotting scopes in support of legacy and emerging weapon systems. Continued to evaluate state of the art advances in optical component technologies for inclusion in future combat optic products such as lightweight lens technology, lightweight housing material, advanced hazard and threat protection, and others.
FY2027 planned work Will continue research and analysis of new weapons and enabling technologies. Evaluations and assessments will include, but are not limited to 360 degree situational awareness, active stabilization, advanced kinetic weapons, low flying drone engagement, and other small arms research to include new technologies in emerging robotic and aerial armaments.
FY2026 plans — current year Will continue research and analysis of new weapons and enabling technologies. Evaluations and assessments will include, but not limited to 360 degree situational awareness, active stabilization, advanced kinetic weapons, low flying drone engagement, and other small arms research to include new technologies in emerging robotic and aerial armaments.
FY2025 accomplishments Continued research and analysis of new weapons and enabling technologies. Evaluations and assessments included, but were not limited to 360 degree situational awareness, active stabilization, advanced kinetic weapons, low flying drone engagement, and other small arms research to include new technologies in emerging robotic and aerial armaments.
Named performers on project S54
Performers named in the R-3 exhibit under this project. Share is of the project's whole FY2027 R-3 total — the same denominator the program-element split uses, so the two read on one scale and will not sum to 100% when unnamed or government work is in the mix. Budget-justification contract funding, not obligations.