# Project S54 — Small Arms Improvement

**Program element:** 0603827A — Soldier Systems - Advanced Development  
**Project:** S54  
**Component:** U.S. Army  
**Appropriation:** 2040 — RDT&E, Army  
**Budget Activity:** 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603827A/S54  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603827A

## Summary

Project S54 — Small Arms Improvement requests $31.6M in FY2027, 56% of the $56.1M requested for program element 0603827A, up 50% on FY2026. 5 R-2A activities decompose the request. PM Soldier Lethality is the largest named R-3 performer at $0.9M, 3.0% of the project's FY2027 R-3 total.

## Funding profile

| 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 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0603827A; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## 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.

**R-3 lines of work:** Management Services; Product Development; Support; Test and Evaluation.

## Named R-3 performers

| Performer | $M | Share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total |
|---|---|---|
| PM Soldier Lethality | 0.9 | 3.0% |

> Budget-justification contract funding, not obligations. Shares need not reach 100% — unnamed and government work is in the denominator.

## Activities (R-2A) — 5

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Weapon Systems | 5.4 | 16.3 | 30.2 | +86% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603827A/S54/a0) |
| Small Arms Weapon Systems Enhancements | 1.1 | 2.4 | 0.5 | −79% | — |
| Fire Control | 0.2 | 0.9 | 0.4 | −52% | — |
| Combat Optics | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.4 | −71% | — |
| Research and Analysis | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | +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.

### New Weapon Systems

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…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603827A/S54/a0

### Small Arms Weapon Systems Enhancements

**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 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.

**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 chrome that is of higher quality than current industry standards. Continued to conduct assessments of weapon enhancements to inform the requirements community on potential future medium machine gun solutions.

### Fire Control

**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, target tracking, automatic target detection, increased networked lethality, passive ranging technology, reduced signature, increased user acceptance, and other emerging weapon, ammunition, and fire control technologies that will increase the lethality of the next generation weapons. Plan to complete development of system solutions to achieve NGSW Fire Control Module-X (NGSW-FC M-X) requirements. Will evaluate state of the art advances in optical component technologies for inclusion in future fire control systems such as lightweight lens technology, lightweight housing materials, munition programming, projectile tracking, advanced hazard and threat protection, and others.

**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, target tracking, automatic target detection, increased networked lethality, passive ranging technology, reduced signature, increased user acceptance, and other emerging weapon, ammunition, and fire control technologies that will increase the lethality of the next generation weapons. Plan to incentivize and garner interest from industry partners to create market space and develop system solutions to achieve NGSW Fire Control Module-X (NGSW-FC M-X) requirements. Will evaluate state of the art advances in optical component technologies for inclusion in future fire control systems such as lightweight lens technology, lightweight housing materials, munition programming, projectile tracking, advanced hazard and threat protection, and others.

**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 generation squad weapons. Incentivized and garnered interest from industry partners to create market space and develop system solutions to achieve NGSW Fire Control Module-X (NGSW-FC M-X) requirements. Small Arms Fire Control Enhancements: Continued to assess the development and demonstration of an internally integrated optically transparent device for the XM157 Next Generation Squad Weapon Fire Control. Preventing eye and/or sensor damage from emerging laser threats requires rapid and radical advances in fire control applications to operate in peer/near peer battlespace. Evaluated state of the art advances in optical component technologies for inclusion in future fire control systems such as lightweight lens technology, lightweight housing materials, munition programming, projectile tracking, advanced hazard and threat protection, and others.

### Combat Optics

**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.

### Research and Analysis

**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.

## 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/0603827A.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0603827A project S54 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0603827A")`.

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