# Technology Maturation Initiatives — Program Element 0604115A

**Program element:** 0604115A  
**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/0604115A

## Summary

U.S. Army requests $314.7M in FY2027 (down from a FY2026 peak), sustained across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House cut 3.3% (to $304.3M); the Senate added 32% (to $414.7M); House appropriators added 39% (to $438.0M). PEO IEWS leads the industry work.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 256.8 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 324.4 |
| FY2027 | Request | 314.7 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 278.2 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 283.5 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 289.8 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 294.3 |

> Estimate types are not summed — the profile mixes actuals, enacted law, the request, and outyear projections.

## Congressional marks (FY2027)

| Stage | Marked ($M) | Change ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| Request | 314.7 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 304.3 | −10.4 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 414.7 | +100.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 438.0 | +123.3 |

> FY2027 NDAA authorization marks, as of 2026-07-27. Not appropriations or final law.

## Projects (1)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AX3 | Technology Maturation Initiatives | 256.8 | 324.4 | 314.7 | −3% |

> Projects are the summable leaves: the program element total is their sum, never added to it.

### Project AX3 — Technology Maturation Initiatives

This project funds the Technology Maturation Initiative (TMI), which matures, integrates and propels component technologies into experimental prototypes for demonstration in relevant environments and tactical/operational scenarios. The Technology Maturation Initiative takes emerging Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 products and propels to a goal of TRL 7, integrating them into technology demonstrators and experimental prototypes for Army Service Component Commands, Army Corps, Army Divisions and below. This initiative streamlines the development and insertion of mature technologies that support ground and air maneuver; fires; command and control (C2) and counter C2; agile sustainment and ammunition; and layered protection plus chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear. It provides the Army an improved mechanism for rapidly incorporating innovative technologies and advanced capabilities to support Secretary of War and Secretary of the Army Acquisition Reform efforts. This PE also provides a tiered evaluation and feasibility application of innovative and disruptive technologies to Army capability gaps at any stage in a technology's lifecycle. The project will partner with academia, small, non-traditional companies, and the defense industrial base to incubate ideas, stage pilot evaluations and to ensure more rapid integration and prototyping of the best, most innovative solutions into Army systems. Project teams comprised of both Technology Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Acquisition Program leads to develop the project concept, execute the program, fabricate and evaluate the prototype, and develop the path to scale for incorporating the technology upon successful evaluation of the prototype.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** PEO IEWS (31.7, 10%), JPEO A&A (10.8, 3.4%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autonomous Operations for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) | 31.5 | — | — |
| Air Launched Effects (ALE) Off-board Survivability | 35.6 | — | — |
| Tactical Analytics Architecture (TA2) | 25.5 | — | — |
| Tactical Navigation Warfare (NAVWAR) Plexus | 9.7 | — | — |
| Assured Navigation for Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (FTUAS) | 5.7 | — | — |
| Reconfigurable Aperture Precision Targeting Radar (RAPTR) for Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (VADER) (RADER) | 10.4 | — | — |
| Lightweight Polymers for Modern Small Caliber Apps - Ammo Casing Only | 3.6 | — | — |
| Optical Threat Detection | 3.8 | — | — |
| Solid State High Power Microwave System (SS-HPM) | 2.1 | — | — |
| Collaborative Links for Integrated Fires (CLIF) | 11.5 | — | — |
| Multi-Network, Multi-Waveform Software Defined Radio | 35.3 | 51.9 | — |
| Consolidated prototype platform for Joint Common Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous Operations, Data architectures, and Power systems | 16.2 | 25.1 | — |
| Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) Prototyping | 20.0 | — | — |
| Aviation Lightweight Armor | 3.3 | 3.9 | — |
| Electro-Magnetic Battlespace Shaping and Protection (EM-BSP) | 10.6 | 18.6 | 10.8 |
| Combination Soldier and Logistics Aerial Insertion (Combodrop) | 2.6 | 2.5 | — |
| Containerized Weapon System - Counter UAS | 8.9 | 2.5 | — |
| Expeditionary Field Artillery Sensor (ExFAS) | 2.2 | 13.6 | 3.1 |
| Iron Sense | 9.9 | 31.5 | 31.7 |
| Critical Common Electronics for Scalable Unmanned Aircraft Systems | 8.5 | 10.0 | 12.0 |
| Electronic Warfare (EW) / Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) | — | 22.0 | 61.1 |
| Networks, Command, Control, Communications, and Position Navigation and Timing | — | 9.3 | 15.2 |
| Air and Ground Platforms | — | 7.1 | 20.0 |
| Soldier System and Expeditionary Support | — | 16.9 | 28.7 |
| Weapons and Fires | — | 39.8 | 46.7 |
| Intelligence and Sensing | — | 11.0 | 32.1 |
| Corps and Division Prototyping | — | — | 28.1 |
| Army Service Component Command (ASCC) Prototyping | — | — | 25.1 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

## Where the FY2027 request goes

| Category | Share | $M |
|---|---|---|
| Industry primes | 14% | 42.5 |
| Government labs & warfare centers | 1.0% | 3.1 |
| Other / unspecified | 86% | 269.0 |

**Top named industry performers:** PEO IEWS ($31.7M, 10%), JPEO A&A ($10.8M, 3.4%).

> R-3 exhibit contract funding, not USAspending obligations.

## Mission & acquisition strategy

This Program Element (PE) funds the Technology Maturation Initiative (TMI), which matures and integrates component technologies into experimental prototypes for demonstration in relevant environments and tactical/operational scenarios. The Technology Maturation Initiative takes emerging Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 products to a goal of TRL 7, integrating them into technology demonstrators and experimental prototypes for Army Service Component Commands, Army Corps, Army Divisions and below.

## Related program elements

- [0604115C — Technology Maturation Initiatives](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115C) (Defense-Wide)
- [0605331A — C2 Applications](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0605331A) (Army)
- [0605054A — Emerging Technology Initiatives](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0605054A) (Army)
- [0102326F — R/SAOC Modernization](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0102326F) (Air Force)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0604115A (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604115A")`.

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