# Critical Common Electronics for Scalable Unmanned Aircraft Systems

**R-2A activity** of project AX3 — Technology Maturation Initiatives  
**Program element:** 0604115A — Technology Maturation Initiatives  
**Component:** U.S. Army · **Budget Activity:** 4  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a19  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A

## Summary

This activity requests $12.0M in FY2027, 3.8% of project AX3, up 20% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2025–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** Will focus on integrating and testing critical common Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) electronics and components, including propulsion, communication, navigation, and system processing, across multiple Army/Blue UAS platforms, while advancing the integration of inexpensive commercial components, sub-system arrays, and payloads for both aerial systems. In FY27 live operational evaluations will validate performance, interoperability, and adaptability in real-world scenarios, including testing in operationally relevant environments at CONUS or OCONUS locations. Feedback from testing will refine designs to improve field assembly, reconfigurability, and usability, delivering scalable, mission-ready solutions with order-of-magnitude increases in system capabilities. Transition prototypes to multiple Army PORs.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The funding increase reflects full-scale prototype testing, operational evaluations, and refinement, requiring additional resources to support expanded testing environments, advanced system capabilities, and preparation for transition.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Finalize the evaluation of component performance and interoperability. Begin system integration to enable FY27 UAS evaluations. Leverage the evaluation to prototype advanced systems for U.S. Army tactical platforms.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** Assess commercial technologies for optimizing systems enabling critical common electronics, components, and algorithms for Army UAS platforms. Fabricate initial component prototypes to assess performance and interoperability of the systems.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 8.5 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 10.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 12.0 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Other activities in project AX3

- [Electronic Warfare (EW) / Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS)](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a20) — FY2027 61.1
- [Weapons and Fires](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a24) — FY2027 46.7
- [Intelligence and Sensing](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a25) — FY2027 32.1
- [Iron Sense](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a18) — FY2027 31.7
- [Soldier System and Expeditionary Support](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a23) — FY2027 28.7
- [Corps and Division Prototyping](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a26) — FY2027 28.1
- [Army Service Component Command (ASCC) Prototyping](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a27) — FY2027 25.1
- [Air and Ground Platforms](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a22) — FY2027 20.0
- [Networks, Command, Control, Communications, and Position Navigation and Timing](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a21) — FY2027 15.2
- [Electro-Magnetic Battlespace Shaping and Protection (EM-BSP)](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604115A/AX3/a14) — FY2027 10.8
- Expeditionary Field Artillery Sensor (ExFAS) — FY2027 3.1
- Autonomous Operations for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) — FY2027 —
- Air Launched Effects (ALE) Off-board Survivability — FY2027 —
- Tactical Analytics Architecture (TA2) — FY2027 —
- Tactical Navigation Warfare (NAVWAR) Plexus — FY2027 —
- Assured Navigation for Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (FTUAS) — FY2027 —
- Reconfigurable Aperture Precision Targeting Radar (RAPTR) for Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (VADER) (RADER) — FY2027 —
- Lightweight Polymers for Modern Small Caliber Apps - Ammo Casing Only — FY2027 —
- Optical Threat Detection — FY2027 —
- Solid State High Power Microwave System (SS-HPM) — FY2027 —
- Collaborative Links for Integrated Fires (CLIF) — FY2027 —
- Multi-Network, Multi-Waveform Software Defined Radio — FY2027 —
- Consolidated prototype platform for Joint Common Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous Operations, Data architectures, and Power systems — FY2027 —
- Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) Prototyping — FY2027 —
- Aviation Lightweight Armor — FY2027 —
- Combination Soldier and Logistics Aerial Insertion (Combodrop) — FY2027 —
- Containerized Weapon System - Counter UAS — FY2027 —

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0604115A project AX3 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

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