# Project 3242 — NIFC-CA Supported by Airborne Platforms

**Program element:** 0604378N — Nav Integrated Fire Control - Counter Air Sys E  
**Project:** 3242  
**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/0604378N/3242  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604378N

## Summary

Project 3242 — NIFC-CA Supported by Airborne Platforms requests $12.0M in FY2027, 29% of the $42.2M requested for program element 0604378N, up 9.1% on FY2026. 1 R-2A activity decomposes the request. NAWC AD is the largest named R-3 performer at $7.2M, 60% of the project's FY2027 R-3 total.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 12.2 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 11.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 12.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 12.5 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 12.5 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 12.7 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 12.9 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0604378N; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 3242 buys

Naval Integrated Fire Control (NIFC) From the Air (FTA) Systems Engineering Integration and Test (SEI&T) project is a systems engineering effort to integrate NIFC FTA capabilities within "Pillar Programs" (F/A-18 & EA-18G, E-2D, F-35, Link-16 and Tactical Targeting Network Technology Data Links, and all USN air launched Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface weapons). Based on the advancing threat, there remains an imperative to improve lethality, survivability and interoperability by extending the battlespace out to the maximum kinematic range of our weapons for the air, surface, and strike warfare missions. The NIFC FTA project leverages capabilities inherent in existing systems, optimizes current and emerging technologies in platform system upgrades, and integrates them together to form interoperable System of Systems (SoS) to maximize offensive and defensive FTA integrated capabilities. As directed from OPNAV, the project is focused on development of Air Warfare, Surface Warfare, and Strike Warfare FTA effects chains. This PU will support efforts that include decomposing SoS requirements into Model Based Systems Engineering products including Mission Technical Baselines (MTBs), Integrated Capability Technical Baselines (ICTBs) and associated digital architectures for requirement allocation to Pillar Programs. Additionally, this PU will support NIFC pillar program coordination to provide performance predictions, performance assessments, and SoS risk reduction activities through Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) events, SoS exercises, and development of Requirements Test and Verification Matrices (RTVMs) to support Developmental and Operational Test for the individual platforms, with T&E results summarized in a Mission Assessment Report. Performance assessments include data collection and analysis on Carrier Air Wings in deployment workups in order understand the effectiveness of the fielded SoS and the operators who employ them. In lieu of a traditional Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP), NIFC FTA test strategies will be developed to identify resources required to evaluate NIFC FTA capabilities, and describe how NIFC FTA capabilities will be evaluated prior to fleet delivery.

**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 |
|---|---|---|
| NAWC AD | 7.2 | 60% |
| NAWC CHINA LAKE | 2.6 | 22% |
| NSMA | 1.6 | 14% |
| NAWCWD | 0.5 | 4.1% |

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

## Activities (R-2A) — 1

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NIFC From the Air (FTA) Capabilities Effectiveness and Integration | 12.2 | 11.0 | 12.0 | +9% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604378N/3242/a0) |

> 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.

### NIFC From the Air (FTA) Capabilities Effectiveness and Integration

Reviewing Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Integrated Capability Framework with Airwing of the Future 2027 to actuals. Decomposing SoS requirements into Model Based Systems Engineering products and NIFC Measures of Effectiveness and Measure of Performance to pillar programs. NIFC FTA SoS verification and validation testing of F/A-18 CIDD…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604378N/3242/a0

## 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/0604378N.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0604378N project 3242 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604378N")`.

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