What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project AX3 of PE 0604115A. 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.
In FY27, this effort will focus on advancing key goals to address critical capability gaps and enhance operational effectiveness for the XVIII Airborne Corps. This effort will develop a Sensor/Effector Architecture that integrates sensors, effectors, and artificial intelligence (AI) within an internally open, externally closed framework, enabling rapid counter-innovation while maintaining a controlled interface for human-on-the-loop execution. To support commanders in high-stakes scenarios, this effort will enable Risk-Tolerant Decision-Making within the sensor/effector network, allowing acceptance of risk without compromising mission command systems and facilitating in extremis decisions when munition speeds exceed system capabilities. AI-Driven Fusion and Execution will be incorporated to fuse sensor data, assess effector capabilities, and recommend or automate actions during critical mass scenarios, ensuring rapid and effective responses. Additionally, will leverage NextG and 5G Integration, including private 5G networks and advanced sensing technologies such as 24GHz radar blending, to enhance detection capabilities and align with the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (OUSW R&E)'s technology portfolio. These efforts will be supported by prize challenges to drive innovation, collaboration with industry and academia, and rapid prototyping through DIV (DIRT) Labs, ensuring the delivery of cutting-edge solutions to maintain warfighter overmatch.
FY 2027 funding increase required for the demonstrations, rapid prototyping and integration of disruptive technologies under the Transformation in Contact initiative, enabling the Army to address emerging threats, enhance multi-domain operational capabilities, and maintain technological superiority in contested environments. 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
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) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2027 | Request | 28.1 |
This activity is 8.9% of project AX3's FY2027 request and 8.9% of PE 0604115A'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.
28 activities in project AX3
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 program-element page.