HitchAI
Request access
RDT&E Program Element · President's Budget PB2027

Defense Autonomous Warfare Group

PE 0604539D8Z·Defense-Wide·Approp. 0400 — RDT&E·BA4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes
FY2027 Request
$1.00B
◆ Development crest → decline
◆ New start in FY2027 — no prior-year funding
HitchAI read

Defense-Wide requests $1.00B in FY2027 against nothing enacted in FY2026 — the program's peak, with nothing planned by FY2031. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators funded it in full.

FY2027 Request
$1,000.0M
No FY2026 funding
FY2026 Enacted
$0.0M
No FY2025 funding
FY2025 Actual
$0.0M
Prior year

For fiscal year 2027, Defense-Wide agencies are requesting $1.00B for Defense Autonomous Warfare Group under RDT&E program element 0604539D8Z, against nothing enacted in 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.

2505007501,00000.0FY25ACTUAL0.0FY26ENACTED1,000.0FY27REQUEST0.0FY280.0FY290.0FY300.0FY31
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual0.0
FY2026Enacted0.0
FY2027Request1,000.0
FY2028Outyear0.0
FY2029Outyear0.0
FY2030Outyear0.0
FY2031Outyear0.0
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

1 project rolls up into PE 0604539D8Z

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.

Project 212

Defense Autonomous Warfare Group

$1,000.0MFY2027 request NEW
FY2025 actual$0.0M
FY2026 enacted$0.0M
FY2027 request$1,000.0M
Support

The Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG) supports the Secretary of War's Drone Dominance initiative for autonomous systems procurement, domestic production capacity, and advanced capabilities. The Drone Dominance initiative will provide investment for: 1) Contested Logistics initiatives – providing support to establish a commercially integrated logistics network capable of sustaining autonomous operations under contested conditions. 2) Collaborative Autonomy initiatives – providing support to the software, control layers, interfaces, and integration rigor required for autonomous systems to operate collaboratively at scale. 3) Force Generation initiatives – providing support for the institutions, personnel pipelines, and other resources required to operate autonomous systems at scale. 4) Counter-Unmanned Systems initiatives – providing support for defense against unmanned threats to the enterprise. 5) Asset Purchase and Industrial Demand Signal initiatives – to support the procurement of unmanned systems required to generate operational mass across air, surface, subsurface, and ground domains.

Accomplishments / planned programs (R-2A) — prior, current and budget year only
Defense Autonomous Warfare GroupNEW
FY2025 actual—
FY2026 enacted—
FY2027 request$1,000.0M

Spending will focus on prioritized operational needs—particularly through the development, modernization, and scaled production of enhanced, extended-range UxS capabilities. Investments will also expand the production of proven short- and medium- range UxS capabilities and strengthen the US drone industrial base by engaging capable…

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
$1,000.0M
House NDAA (HASC)HASC
$1,000.0M full · +$0
Senate NDAA (SASC)SASC
$1,000.0M full · +$0
House Approps (HAC-D)HAC_D
$1,000.0M 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.

Where FY2027 funding flowsShare$M
Other / unspecified100%1,000.0
FY2027 request100%1,000.0
Program detail

Mission & acquisition strategy

The FY 2027 request for Drone Dominance includes $1,000,000 thousand of discretionary and $53,599,650 thousand of mandatory for a total of $54,599,650 thousand. The mandatory funds Drone Dominance which is in support of the Secretary’s Drone Dominance initiative for autonomous systems procurement, domestic production capacity, and advanced capabilities. The Drone Dominance initiative will provide investment for: 1) Contested Logistics initiatives – providing support to establish a commercially integrated logistics network capable of sustaining autonomous operations under contested conditions.

N/A

Project 212 — Defense Autonomous Warfare Group
  • Support
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?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?
Sign in →

This page carries the budget justification and the NDAA marks — nothing else. For what a contractor 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 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification · Exhibits R-2 / R-3 · PE 0604539D8Z (President's Budget PB2027) — and FY2027 NDAA committee marks, as tracked 2026-07-27.
Suggested citation
HitchAI, "Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (PE 0604539D8Z)," federal budget intelligence, PB2027 vintage. hitchintel.com/programs/0604539D8Z
Machine access
Markdown twin /programs/0604539D8Z.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.com → budget_get_program_element, budget_get_cong_marks