Project 3751
$42.2MFY2027 request ▲ 25%Vertical Takeoff and Landing Development
FY2025 actual$49.2M
FY2026 enacted$33.9M
FY2027 request$42.2M
Product DevelopmentSupportTest and EvaluationManagement Services
FY2027 Request
$47.2M
▲ 21% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$38.9M
▼ 28% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$54.1M
Prior year
Roll-up of 2 projects. Projects are the summable leaves — the PE total is their sum, never added to it.
For fiscal year 2027, the U.S. Navy is requesting $47.2M for (u)marine Aviation Demonstration/validation under RDT&E program element 0604295M, up 21% over FY2026.
Funding trajectory
Funding profile, FY2025–FY2031
Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 54.1 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 38.9 |
| FY2027 | Request | 47.2 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 52.1 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 62.0 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 62.6 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 63.7 |
Where it sits
Acquisition lifecycle
This program is funded in RDT&E Budget Activity 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes.
Complete
Research
BA 1–2
Complete
Advanced Technology
BA 3
Current
Prototyping
BA 4
Later
Development & Fielding
BA 5–7
Inside the program element
2 projects roll up into PE 0604295M
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 21% overall, which can hide much larger swings below.
Project 3752
$4.9MFY2027 request ▼ 1%Future Capabilities Transition
FY2025 actual$4.9M
FY2026 enacted$5.0M
FY2027 request$4.9M
Product DevelopmentSupportTest and EvaluationManagement Services
Congressional action
Congressional marks
Committee marks on the FY2027 request. Adds and cuts are reconciled in conference before they become law.
RequestPresident's Budget
$47.2M
House NDAA (HASC)HASC
$95.2M +$48.0M · +102%
Senate NDAA (SASC)SASC
$107.2M +$60.0M · +127%
House Approps (HAC-D)HAC_D
$47.2M full · +$0
▲ $60.0M chamber gap — 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.
NAWCAD
$11.4M · 24%
| Where FY2027 funding flows | Share | $M |
|---|---|---|
| Industry primes | 24% | 11.4 |
| Government labs & warfare centers | 0.0% | 0.0 |
| Other / unspecified | 76% | 35.7 |
| FY2027 request | 100% | 47.2 |
Program detail
Mission & acquisition strategy
USMC VTOL Development portfolio addresses vertical lift capability requirements that are feasible and affordable. This element supports Marine Corps Force Design and Marine Corps Aviation's Project Eagle initiative. This portfolio facilitates developmental and operational prototyping and demonstration of capabilities supporting Logistics/Aviation Sustainment, Future Attack/Strike (FASt), Assault Support, and Autonomy.
ALC uses a Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) approach due to availability of commercial-off-the-shelf and government-off-the-shelf (COTS/GOTS) solutions and maturity of materiel solutions based on responses from Industry-wide requests for information (RFIs) released in FY 2023. The Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) signed on March 19, 2024 initiated the MTA Rapid Prototyping phase in FY 2024. MTA Rapid Prototyping OTA contracts support demonstration of multiple platforms, autonomy suites and associated subsystems in FY 2024, FY 2025, and FY 2026. Narrowing to a single vendor for final mission systems integration will occur at the end of FY 2026.
Project 3751, 3752 — Vertical Takeoff and Landing Development
- Product Development
- Support
- Test and Evaluation
- Management Services
Ask Hitch
Ask this program element
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.
H
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?Which project inside PE 0604295M is growing fastest, and which is shrinking?How is the FY2027 request split between industry and government performers?
This page carries the budget justification and the NDAA marks — nothing else. For what NAWCAD 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 0604295M (President's Budget PB2027) — and FY2027 NDAA committee marks, as tracked 2026-07-27.
Suggested citation
HitchAI, "(u)marine Aviation Demonstration/validation (PE 0604295M)," federal budget intelligence, PB2027 vintage. hitchintel.com/programs/0604295M
Machine access
Markdown twin
/programs/0604295M.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.com → budget_get_program_element, budget_get_cong_marksFY2027 Request
$42.2M
▲ 25% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$33.9M
▼ 31% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$49.2M
Prior year
Vertical Takeoff and Landing Development — one RDT&E project inside PE 0604295M. Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, not on a project.
Project 3751 — Vertical Takeoff and Landing Development — requests $42.2M in FY2027, 90% of the $47.2M requested for program element 0604295M. Year over year it grows 25% against FY2026.
Funding trajectory
Project 3751 funding, FY2025–FY2031
Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 49.2 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 33.9 |
| FY2027 | Request | 42.2 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 47.1 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 56.9 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 57.5 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 58.5 |
Inside the project
1 accomplishment / planned program
The R-2A exhibit. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan — and they are descriptive: coverage is partial and they do not always add back to the project, so count them, never total them. Opening lines only here — the full year-by-year narrative is on the project page.
FY2025 actual$49.2M
FY2026 enacted$33.9M
FY2027 request$42.2M
Continued vendor Mission Systems Integration and development of identified software/hardware autonomy solutions into demonstration aircraft. Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Four (UX-24) will continue to conduct prototype evaluations of vendor autonomy suites while MAWTS-1 and Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One…
Read the FY2027 plan →Who's building it
Named performers on project 3751
Performers named in the R-3 exhibit under this project. Share is of the project's whole FY2027 R-3 total — the same denominator the program-element split uses, so the two read on one scale and will not sum to 100% when unnamed or government work is in the mix. Budget-justification contract funding, not obligations.
NAWCAD
$11.1M · 26%
Project detail
What project 3751 buys
USMC VTOL Development portfolio addresses vertical lift capability requirements that are feasible and affordable. This element supports Marine Corps Force Design and Marine Corps Aviation's Project Eagle initiative. This portfolio facilitates developmental and operational prototyping and demonstration of capabilities supporting Logistics/Aviation Sustainment, Future Attack/Strike (FASt), Assault Support, and Autonomy. Project activities are closely aligned with the OSW-sponsored vertical lift initiatives and will look to leverage any aspects of Joint Service programs (e.g., Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, unmanned, air launched effects) that may benefit the Marine Corps through accelerated development and/or reduced life cycle costs. The VTOL Development portfolio serves as a force multiplier, supporting development, maturation, experimentation and evaluation of enhanced performance qualities (e.g., agility, endurance, reliability, lift capacity, survivability), technically relevant modular kinetic/non-kinetic payloads, and superior warfighter-machine interface (e.g., autonomy), enhancing warfighter lethality. This project increases the MAGTF's lethality through its long-range fires, Logistics/Aviation Sustainment, FASt, and Assault Support efforts. Specific projects include the Contested Logistics focused Aerial Logistics Connector (ALC). Project activities directly support Force Design and Project Eagle, enable the Stand-in Force (SiF), and facilitate Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations (EABO), and Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE) through the development of manned and unmanned capabilities that enhance warfighter survivability and lethality.
R-3 lines of work
- Product Development
- Support
- Test and Evaluation
- Management Services
FY2027 Request
$4.9M
▼ 1.0% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$5.0M
▲ 1.2% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$4.9M
Prior year
Future Capabilities Transition — one RDT&E project inside PE 0604295M. Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, not on a project.
Project 3752 — Future Capabilities Transition — requests $4.9M in FY2027, 10% of the $47.2M requested for program element 0604295M. Year over year it falls 1.0% against FY2026.
Funding trajectory
Project 3752 funding, FY2025–FY2031
Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 4.9 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 5.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 4.9 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 5.0 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 5.1 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 5.1 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 5.2 |
Inside the project
1 accomplishment / planned program
The R-2A exhibit. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan — and they are descriptive: coverage is partial and they do not always add back to the project, so count them, never total them.
Future Capabilities Transition▼ 1%
FY2025 actual$4.9M
FY2026 enacted$5.0M
FY2027 request$4.9M
FY2027 planned work The Air Launched Effects (ALE) project will further risk reduction, interoperability and prototyping efforts including heavy fuel extended range, kinetic/non-kinetic payload development along with enhancements for in-flight targeting updates and terminal guidance for MAGTF long range precision fires. Assessments will be performed to evaluate integration of ALE into USMC platforms. Advanced modeling, simulation, and analysis will support ALE CONEMP refinements. Future capability assessments will occur to identify risk reduction opportunities for execution. These assessments may support DIA and/or RDER efforts. Tasks include: acquisition program management functions, acquisition…
FY2026 to FY2027 change Funds decrease from FY 2026 to FY 2027 due to miscellaneous rate adjustments.
FY2026 plans — current year LRAM JCTD, now LRAM Defense Innovator Accelerator (DIA), efforts complete in FY 2026. The ALE project will further risk reduction, interoperability and prototyping efforts including kinetic/non-kinetic payload development along with enhancements for in-flight targeting updates and terminal guidance. Future capability assessments will occur to identify risk reduction opportunities for execution. These assessments may support DIA and/or RDER efforts. Tasks include: acquisition program management functions, acquisition documentation, systems engineering modeling and analysis, platform integration analysis, test and evaluation, planning and development.
Who's building it
Named performers on project 3752
Performers named in the R-3 exhibit under this project. Share is of the project's whole FY2027 R-3 total — the same denominator the program-element split uses, so the two read on one scale and will not sum to 100% when unnamed or government work is in the mix. Budget-justification contract funding, not obligations.
NAWCAD
$0.3M · 7.0%
Project detail
What project 3752 buys
The Future Capability Transition (FCT) portfolio implements a capabilities-based acquisition approach focused on lethality, enhancing Marine Corps Aviation's interoperability and effectivity in joint kill webs. FCT accelerates the transition of Science and Technology (S&T) efforts into lethal Warfighter capabilities, which includes OSW R&E Defense Innovation Acceleration (DIA) and OSW R&E Rapid Defense Experiment Reserve (RDER) projects. FCT supports the execution of Force Design by ensuring both legacy and future platforms inform design and acquisition decisions that avoid duplicative design and engineering, reduce life-cycle costs and expedite delivery of enhanced lethality capabilities to Marine Aviation. This PE includes enduring VMX-1 RDT&E support along with support of Fleet evaluations and demonstration.
R-3 lines of work
- Product Development
- Support
- Test and Evaluation
- Management Services