R-2A Activity · President's Budget PB2027

Common Tactical Edge Network (CTEN)

Activity a0·Project 655050 — TDL System Integration·PE 0604281F·U.S. Air Force
FY2027 Request
$24.2M
▼ 42% vs FY2026
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This activity requests $24.2M in FY2027, 22% of project 655050, down 42% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

FY2027 Request
$24.2M
▼ 42% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$41.8M
▼ 6.1% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$44.5M
Prior year
Planned work

What the FY2027 request buys

Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 655050 of PE 0604281F. 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.

FY2027 planned work

-Will continue to execute software releases, integration, and demonstrations. -Will continue to engineer the capability to provide data routing critical to the operation of PG/C3HST and the associated Phalanx Watch network support function. -Will continue to upgrade software as the ability to scale CTEN and integrate increased ground nodes and weapons platforms will continue as PG expands.

FY2026 to FY2027 change

Decrease from FY 2026 to FY 2027 due to realignment for higher operational priorities.

Before the request year

FY2026: the year under way

Prior-year accomplishments and current-year plans from the same exhibit. Context for the FY2027 plan, not a series — an activity partitions its project exactly in the request year, but can under-cover it in earlier years.

FY2026 plans — current year

-Continue to develop and demonstrate the CTEN Minimum Viable Capability Release (MVCR). -The first operational release of CTEN is scheduled for early 2026 followed by another release later in 2026. Both will be integrated on Phalanx Nomad hardware baseline with final delivery of full Phalanx Griffon (PG)-system to F15 SPO in calendar year 2026. This includes software Model Based System Engineering artifacts -Complete systems architecting and continue to support advanced non-proprietary antenna apertures necessary to mature the Enterprise Approach to the Joint Aerial Network. -Complete systems architecture with associated CTEN reference architecture Model Based System Engineering artifacts. -Develop software sustainment plan and contract award.

Money

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.

25044.5FY25ACTUAL41.8FY26ENACTED24.2FY27REQUEST
Actual Enacted Request
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual44.5
FY2026Enacted41.8
FY2027Request24.2

This activity is 22% of project 655050's FY2027 request and 22% of PE 0604281F'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.

Where this sits

5 activities in project 655050

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.

MBeam$50.8M NEW
Common Tactical Edge Network (CTEN) — this activity$24.2M ▼ 42%
Tactical Data Links and Gateways (TDL&G) Integration$22.2M ▼ 22%
Link 22$7.7M NEW
Second Generation Anti-Jam Tactical UHF Radio for NATO (SATURN)$5.2M ▼ 15%
Source
FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification · Exhibit R-2A · PE 0604281F, project 655050 (President's Budget PB2027). Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, never on an activity.
Machine access
Markdown twin /programs/0604281F/655050/a0.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.combudget_get_activity