What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 079 of PE 0603945D8Z. This is the budget justification's own description of work that has not happened yet — the one thing no other level of the budget carries.
Current plans include: (1) increasing the scale and complexity of the AUKUS Maritime Big Play to enhance interoperability and combined capability of un-crewed maritime systems among AUKUS partners;(2) expanding and refining common architectures and standards to enhance our ability to perform coalition operations with mature Resilient Autonomous and Artificial Intelligence Technologies; and (3) expanding and extending preparations for hypersonic strike weapons demonstrations using our AUKUS partners’ systems and across multi-domain platforms; continue to develop and test in both HWIL and via live demonstrations the joint integrated fires capability for AUKUS nations using MDA’s Joint Track Management Capability (JTMC) Bridge; and (4) supporting Select Trilateral Approved Projects by helping to address technical challenges; and (5) conducting technical evaluations to inform selection and shape the most promising AUKUS Pillar II projects.
The increase of $16.094 million between FY 2026 and FY 2027 is due to work to weaponize U.S., Australian and UK systems to ensure readiness for AUKUS hypersonic capability demonstrations. Enabling hypersonic strike weapons capabilities across all AUKUS partners and across multi-domain platforms enhances operational impact and strengthens integrated deterrence. Also, the increase will cover implementation of the JTMC Bridge on allied hardware and enable Australia and United Kingdom sensor interfaces and tracking to integrate with US composite tracking networks. Developing a joint integrated fires capability with our AUKUS partners by leveraging trilateral sensors and platforms strengthens survivability and integrated deterrence.
FY2025–FY2026: what came before
Prior-year accomplishments and current-year plans from the same exhibit. Context for the FY2027 plan, not a series — an activity partitions its project exactly in the request year, but can under-cover it in earlier years.
AUKUS sub-projects in FY 2026 will build on successes in FY 2025. In FY 2026, OUSW(R&E) and international partners will increase the scale and complexity of the Maritime Big Play to enable AUKUS coalition-massed robotic autonomous systems to achieve greater reach, scale, and lethality. As the AUKUS Trilateral Advanced Capability Executive Group (ACEG) drives execution toward Trilaterally ACEG Approved Projects, there is a trilateral acknowledgment that an AUKUS project may take one of three forms, "Co-Development/co-production/co-sustainment" across AUKUS partners; "Experimentation" of emerging trilateral capabilities to demonstrate and validate solutions to emerging I-JROC requirements and Key Operational Problems (KOP); and "procure, deploy, and maintain" interoperable solutions to warfighters across the trilateral partner formations. OUSW(R&E) has a significant role in the shaping of AUKUS projects for ACEG consideration, and for driving the execution of projects to maximize the opportunity to transfer operational capability to the AUKUS warfighter. Current plans include: (1) conducting technical evaluations to inform selection and shape the most promising AUKUS Pillar II projects ; (2) increasing the scale and complexity of the AUKUS Maritime Autonomy Experimentation and Exercise Series (“Maritime Big Play”) to enhance interoperability and combined capability of un-crewed maritime systems among AUKUS partners;(3) developing common architectures and standards to enhance our ability to perform coalition operations with mature Resilient Autonomous and Artificial Intelligence Technologies; and (5) evaluating hypersonic strike missile mission performance using air, land and sea-based platforms, developing conceptual missile design, conducting platform compatibility assessment, conducting operational and survivability analysis, and initiating planning for component ground test and experimentation; and (5) supporting Select Trilateral Approved Projects by helping to address technical challenges.
FY2025 plans include (1) increasing the scale and complexity of the AUKUS Maritime Autonomy Experimentation and Exercise Series (“Maritime Big Play”) campaign, building upon the campaign’s successes in FY 2024; (2) conducting mission planning, compatibility analysis, and testing for the Trilateral Hypersonic Strike Weapons project; (3) contributing to large-scale tri-lateral experiments to enhance our ability to perform coalition operations with mature Resilient Autonomous and Artificial Intelligence Technologies; (4) conducting technical evaluations of proposed AUKUS projects to inform decision-making; and (5) supporting Select Trilateral Approved Projects by helping to address technical challenges.
Three years, and no five-year plan
An R-2A activity publishes the prior year, the current year and the budget year. The FYDP outyears exist at project and program-element level and are deliberately absent here rather than inferred. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 44.2 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 135.3 |
| FY2027 | Request | 151.4 |
This activity is 97% of project 079's FY2027 request and 96% of PE 0603945D8Z's. In the request year the activities under a project sum to it exactly; in the current year they under-cover it in about 9% of cases, so an activity's delta can legitimately exceed its parent's and the two must not be compared row to row.
3 activities in project 079
Every R-2A line of this project, largest FY2027 request first. Linked where the activity has enough of its own narrative to carry a page; the rest are shown in full on the project page.