# Project 1130 — Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Capability Development

**Program element:** 0604230N — Warfare Support System  
**Project:** 1130  
**Component:** U.S. Navy  
**Appropriation:** 1319 — RDT&E, Navy  
**Budget Activity:** 5 — System Development & Demonstration  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604230N/1130  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604230N

## Summary

Project 1130 — Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Capability Development requests $60.9M in FY2027, 83% of the $73.1M requested for program element 0604230N, up 8227% on FY2026. 3 R-2A activities decompose the request, 2 restarted this cycle. GTRI is the largest named R-3 performer at $4.5M, 7.4% of the project's FY2027 R-3 total.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 83.7 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.7 |
| FY2027 | Request | 60.9 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 28.4 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 20.0 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 7.7 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 7.9 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0604230N; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 1130 buys

The Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Portfolio consists of a family of Navy loitering munition programs (air and surface) designed to meet an urgent Geographic Combatant Command Requirement. Air and Surface Expeditionary Loitering Munitions will leverage and continue prior development efforts including an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Innovative Naval Prototype (INP). The Navy is pursuing commercial-off-the-shelf solutions with autonomous government-provided software and auxiliary systems. The systems will be expeditionary and deployable by small teams to support operations in various environments. The air system has transitioned from Low-Rate Initial Production to Full-Rate Production with the initial vendor solutions and is now expanding the industrial base for this capability by integrating government-owned technology with other vendor platform solutions. The surface system has transitioned from the ONR INP and is now in Low-Rate Initial Production. The FY 2026 budget for Expeditionary Loitering Munitions included $731,000 thousand of discretionary funding and $37,300,000 thousand of mandatory funding for a total of $38,031,000 thousand. The mandatory funds support program management and technical oversight for the air system, which included hardware and software qualification, Spiral 2 software test planning and execution, safety certification, and contract execution. This oversight will be extended to a maximum of four additional vendors to aid in the integration of Government-owned Technical Data Packages (TDPs) into their respective platforms.

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

## Named R-3 performers

| Performer | $M | Share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total |
|---|---|---|
| GTRI | 4.5 | 7.4% |
| Aeroenvironment | 3.0 | 4.9% |

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

## Activities (R-2A) — 3

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT | 60.0 | 0.0 | 48.9 | restart | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604230N/1130/a0) |
| TEST AND EVALUATION | 13.7 | 0.0 | 7.2 | restart | — |
| PROGRAM MANAGEMENT | 10.0 | 0.7 | 4.8 | +552% | — |

> 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.

### PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT — RESTART

Continue engineering change development, testing and implementation for the Spiral 1 air system program. Continue the vendor-based expansion effort by completing design phase and producing prototypes air systems. Complete air system Spiral 2 software fielding.

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604230N/1130/a0

### TEST AND EVALUATION — RESTART

**FY2027 planned work.** Conduct air system vendor-based expansion prototype design and conduct flight and environmental testing. Complete air system Spiral 2 software development testing and safety certification for fielding.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Increase in FY 2027 is due to the initiation of flight and environmental testing for the vendor-based expansion effort for the air system program.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** The FY 2026 request for (PROJ: 1130) Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Capability Development with $731 thousands of discretionary and $37,300 thousands of mandatory (reconciliation) for a total of $38,031 thousand. Further information for this reconciliation request is provided in the Reconciliation Exhibit.

### PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

**FY2027 planned work.** Provide air system program management and technical oversight for hardware and software qualification efforts, Spiral 2 software fielding, and contract execution. Provide air system program management and technical oversight for up to 4 additional vendors to integrate Government-owned TDPs into their platforms, manufacture prototype systems, and conduct initial design verification testing of these systems.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Increase in FY 2027 is due to management required to support accelerating vendor-based expansion efforts for the air system program.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Provide air system program management and technical oversight for hardware and software qualification efforts, Spiral 2 software test planning and execution, safety certification, and contract execution. The FY 2026 request for (PROJ: 1130) Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Capability Development with $731 thousands of discretionary and $37,300 thousands of mandatory (reconciliation) for a total of $38,031 thousand. Further information for this reconciliation request is provided in the Reconciliation Exhibit.

## 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/0604230N.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0604230N project 1130 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604230N")`.

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