# Economic Defense Unit — Program Element 0604538D8Z

**Program element:** 0604538D8Z  
**Component:** Defense-Wide  
**Appropriation:** 0400 — RDT&E, Defense-Wide  
**Budget Activity:** 7 — Operational System Development  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604538D8Z

## Summary

Defense-Wide requests $403.9M in FY2027 against nothing enacted in FY2026, sustained across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate cut 87% (to $53.9M); House appropriators cut 100% (to $0.0M).

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 0.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 403.9 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 620.4 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 632.9 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 645.5 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 658.4 |

> Estimate types are not summed — the profile mixes actuals, enacted law, the request, and outyear projections.

## Congressional marks (FY2027)

| Stage | Marked ($M) | Change ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| Request | 403.9 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 403.9 | +0.0 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 53.9 | −350.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 0.0 | −403.9 |

> FY2027 NDAA authorization marks, as of 2026-07-27. Not appropriations or final law.

## Projects (1)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 215 | Economic Defense Unit (EDU) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 403.9 | new start |

> Projects are the summable leaves: the program element total is their sum, never added to it.

### Project 215 — Economic Defense Unit (EDU)

The mission of the Economic Defense Unit (EDU) is to support some of the DoW's Economic Competition activities by providing analysis, recommendations, insights, and other support to ensure alignment with DoW objectives and in support of the DoW’s National Defense Strategy, National Military Strategy, and National Defense Industrial Strategy. Additionally, the office will develop requirements for Economic Competition activities that may include access, basing, and overflight; countering mobilization of adversaries; countering defense industrial base activities by adversaries; and ensuring access for the United States to critical materials and capabilities. It will also provide economic analysis and advisory input on DoW contracting and other commercial approaches meeting criteria developed by the Director of EDU, and sponsor and conduct regular tabletop exercises and activities to assess the economic impacts of DoW decisions during crisis and conflicts. The EDU's economic weapon system will integrate economic competition workflows into a single system in order to (1) Enable data-driven coordination across economic competition activities; (2) Improve collaboration via recurring system usage by EDU; (3) Establish an enduring operating model for data acquisition and integration; (4) Support planning and execution of economic competition activities at scale.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investment Program | — | — | 403.9 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

## Where the FY2027 request goes

| Category | Share | $M |
|---|---|---|
| Other / unspecified | 100% | 403.9 |

> R-3 exhibit contract funding, not USAspending obligations.

## Mission & acquisition strategy

The mission of the Economic Defense Unit (EDU) is to support some of the Department of War's (DoW) Economic Competition activities by providing analysis, recommendations, insights, and other support to ensure alignment with DoW objectives and in support of the DoW’s National Defense Strategy, National Military Strategy, and National Defense Industrial Strategy. Additionally, the office will develop requirements for Economic Competition activities that may include access, basing, and overflight; countering mobilization of adversaries; countering defense industrial base activities by adversaries; and ensuring access for the United States to critical materials and capabilities.

## Related program elements

- [0305114F — Air Traffic Control System](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0305114F) (Air Force)
- [0305304D8Z — DoW Enterprise Energy Information Management (EEIM)](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0305304D8Z) (Defense-Wide)
- [0401334F — Effector Development](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0401334F) (Air Force)
- [0603766A — Tactical Electronic Surveillance System - Adv Dev](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603766A) (Army)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0604538D8Z (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604538D8Z")`.

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