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RDT&E Program Element · President's Budget PB2027

EA-18 Squadrons

PE 0604269N·U.S. Navy·Approp. 1319 — RDT&E·BA5 — System Development & Demonstration
FY2027 Request
$131.7M
Navy · RDT&E
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U.S. Navy funding falls 29% to a $131.7M request in FY2027 (down from a FY2026 peak), sustained across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators funded it in full. Boeing leads the industry work.

FY2027 Request
$131.7M
▼ 29% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$184.9M
▲ 13% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$164.1M
Prior year

For fiscal year 2027, the U.S. Navy is requesting $131.7M for EA-18 Squadrons under RDT&E program element 0604269N, down 29% from FY2026.

Funding trajectory

Funding profile, FY2025–FY2031

Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.

501001500164.1FY25ACTUAL184.9FY26ENACTED131.7FY27REQUEST112.4FY28112.9FY29137.1FY30139.7FY31
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual164.1
FY2026Enacted184.9
FY2027Request131.7
FY2028Outyear112.4
FY2029Outyear112.9
FY2030Outyear137.1
FY2031Outyear139.7
Where it sits

Acquisition lifecycle

This program is funded in RDT&E Budget Activity 5 — System Development & Demonstration.

Complete
Research
BA 1–2
Complete
Advanced Technology
BA 3
Complete
Prototyping
BA 4
Current
Development & Fielding
BA 5–7
Inside the program element

1 project rolls up into PE 0604269N

Projects are the summable leaves — the PE total is their sum, never added to it. Program elements and projects carry the full five-year plan; activities stop at the budget year. This PE moves -29% overall, which can hide much larger swings below.

Project 3063

EA-18G Development

$131.7MFY2027 request ▼ 29%
FY2025 actual$164.1M
FY2026 enacted$184.9M
FY2027 request$131.7M
Product DevelopmentSupportTest and EvaluationManagement Services

The EA-18G development program upgrades the Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) capability to detect, identify, locate and suppress hostile emitters; provides enhanced connectivity to National, Theater and Strike assets; and provides passive organic precision emitter targeting for employment of precision strike weapons and onboard suppression weapons (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile family) to fulfill operational requirements. The EA-18G is the only tactical AEA platform for the joint force and is continually called upon to provide effects for USN, USMC, and USAF assets. There is no planned replacement for the EA-18G and improvements will fill capability gaps for the Air Wing of the Future North Star effort.

Accomplishments / planned programs (R-2A) — prior, current and budget year only
EA-18G AEA System Enhancements (ASE) and Integrated Capability Package (ICP-3)
FY2025 actual$7.2M
FY2026 enacted$0.0M
FY2027 request$0.0M
EA-18G System Configuration Set (SCS) Development & Integration
FY2025 actual$3.6M
FY2026 enacted$0.0M
FY2027 request$0.0M
EA-18G Flight Plan Engineering▼ 61%
FY2025 actual$45.0M
FY2026 enacted$14.4M
FY2027 request$5.6M

FY2027 planned work Continue Flight Plan Engineering efforts to include EA-18G improvement studies necessary to regain and maintain tactical relevance in near peer confrontations.

FY2026 to FY2027 change FY2026 to FY2027 decrease of ($8.795M) due to ramp-down and completion of Next Generation Electronic Attack Unit (NGEAU) Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) efforts as the program moves into the production phase.

FY2026 plans — current year Continue Flight Plan Engineering efforts to include EA-18G improvement studies necessary to regain and maintain tactical relevance in near peer confrontations. Continue technology maturation of interoperability between offensive Electronic Attack systems and platform receiver systems; improvements to sensor receiver systems; integration of active and passive kill chain capabilities; operator workload reduction; emergent software capability fleet needs; Live Virtual Constructive interoperability; and display improvements.

EA-18G Growler Block II▼ 26%
FY2025 actual$108.3M
FY2026 enacted$170.5M
FY2027 request$126.0M

Developmental testing and integration of Growler Block II (GB2) Phase 1 in both laboratory and flight environments moves to start of iterative capability improvement. Operational testing of Growler Block 2 Phase 1 completes. Continue GB2 Phase 2 EMD phase activities to include purchase of test asset material, integration and…

Read the FY2027 plan →
Congressional action

Congressional marks

Committee marks on the FY2027 request. Adds and cuts are reconciled in conference before they become law.

RequestPresident's Budget
$131.7M
House NDAA (HASC)HASC
$131.7M full · +$0
Senate NDAA (SASC)SASC
$131.7M full · +$0
House Approps (HAC-D)HAC_D
$131.7M full · +$0
unresolved as of 2026-07-27. These are FY2027 authorization marks (NDAA); appropriations and the conference agreement may differ.
Who's building it

Where the FY2027 request goes

Performers named in the R-3 exhibit, resolved into industry, government-lab, and unspecified shares. Budget-justification contract funding, not obligations.

Boeing
$88.3M · 67%
Primary Hardware/Software Development (Growler Block 2) · IDIQ
NAWCWD
$20.8M · 16%
Primary Hardware/Software Development (Growler Block 2
Where FY2027 funding flowsShare$M
Industry primes95%125.6
Government labs & warfare centers3.5%4.6
Other / unspecified1.2%1.5
FY2027 request100%131.7
See Boeing's full federal contract ledger members →
Program detail

Mission & acquisition strategy

The EA-18G Growler is the primary Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) platform supporting the Joint Force and the sole tactical AEA aircraft in the DoW inventory. The Growler is an asymmetric force multiplier that increases the survivability and lethality of the Joint Force within a non-permissive environment, while enabling all-domain superiority for the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS). The centrality of EMS dominance to the CNO's Maritime Strategy further necessitates EA-18G modernization as a strategic pursuit to secure EMS superiority for the Navy's Carrier Strike and Joint Expeditionary operations.

The program achieved Full Rate Production in November 2009. Development, integration, and test planning are underway for Growler Block II, a generational capability upgrade, which will be integrated into the overall EA-18G plan/roadmap. EA-18G software upgrades are incrementally developed, integrated and fielded. Software development and integration are coordinated efforts between government activities and industry partners to field capability upgrades to the EA-18G fleet.

Project 3063 — EA-18G Development
  • Product Development
  • Support
  • Test and Evaluation
  • Management Services
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Answers are generated from the figures on this page — the FY2027 justification exhibits and the marks tracked above — and nothing else is consulted. Confirm any figure against the cited exhibit before you use it externally.

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Questions this page can answer
How does the FY2027 request compare with FY2026, and what does the five-year plan show?What did the FY2027 NDAA committees do to this request?How is the FY2027 request split between industry and government performers?In plain terms, what is this program element for and how is it being acquired?
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This page carries the budget justification and the NDAA marks — nothing else. For what Boeing has actually been obligated, the ledger is at hitchintel.com/vendors; for live solicitations, hitchintel.com/opportunities. Both are member surfaces.

Provenance

Cite this page

Sources
FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification · Exhibits R-2 / R-3 · PE 0604269N (President's Budget PB2027) — and FY2027 NDAA committee marks, as tracked 2026-07-27.
Suggested citation
HitchAI, "EA-18 Squadrons (PE 0604269N)," federal budget intelligence, PB2027 vintage. hitchintel.com/programs/0604269N
Machine access
Markdown twin /programs/0604269N.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.com → budget_get_program_element, budget_get_cong_marks