# Armament/Ordnance Development — Program Element 0604602F

**Program element:** 0604602F  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force  
**Appropriation:** 3600 — RDT&E, Air Force  
**Budget Activity:** 5 — System Development & Demonstration  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604602F

## Summary

U.S. Air Force funding ramps 1249% to a $96.8M request in FY2027 — the program's peak, before stepping down 92% across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House cut 10.0% (to $87.1M); the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators funded it in full. Boeing leads the industry work.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 5.3 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 7.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 96.8 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 48.3 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 38.1 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 8.0 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 8.2 |

> 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 | 96.8 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 87.1 | −9.7 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 96.8 | +0.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 96.8 | +0.0 |

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

## Projects (2)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 653133 | Bombs & Fuzes | 1.2 | 1.6 | 90.9 | +5687% |
| 655361 | Stores-Aircraft Interface | 4.1 | 5.6 | 5.8 | +4% |

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

### Project 653133 — Bombs & Fuzes

The Bombs & Fuzes project improves conventional weapons/munitions (kinetic and non-kinetic), fuzes, and height-of-burst sensors (HOBS), and develops and integrates complementary common weapon components, data links, position, navigation, and timing (PNT) capabilities (i.e. GPS, non-GPS, optical, passive, active, etc.) using modern acquisition best practices, to include digital acquisition practices (e.g. government-owned open system architectures, Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and agile software development). It also provides for the development and testing necessary for a suitable manufacturing base of conventional warheads, fuzes, HOBS, and munitions materiel handling equipment (MMHE). Bombs & Fuzes also provides research, development, testing, and guidance of conventional warheads, fuzing, HOBS modifications, and anti-personnel anti-materiel (APAM) weapons to improve lethality and survivability against area, mobile, hard and deeply buried, and fixed targets. Finally, this project provides an opportunity to quickly insert emerging technologies into existing and developing aircraft munitions and fuzes and supports strategic planning to achieve compliance of AF munitions with Department of War insensitive munitions (IM) standards. - Munitions Materiel Handling Equipment (MMHE): MMHE is a continuing project to develop and improve the standardization and commonality of munitions handling and armament equipment to preclude duplication. Efforts are primarily the study, design, and development of MMHE and armament control systems; however, support may be provided to other functional areas as requested. Procurement will be performed and funded by the applicable weapons system project. - Insensitive Munitions (IM) and Emerging Technologies: IM projects support AF IM strategic planning to achieve IM compliance IAW U.S. Code, Title 10, Subtitle A, Part N, Chapter 141, Section 2389, ensuring safety regarding insensitive munitions. Develops and validates IM models against current munition performance, addresses IM explosive fill deficiencies and develops munition modifications to improve the response of conventional weapons to unplanned stimuli. This project also explores and develops Emerging Technology by analyzing and evaluating current systems to integrate new technologies for both future and existing munitions.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** Boeing (89.3, 98%), Prototype Fabrication Shop (0.9, 1.0%), 96 TW (0.1, 0.1%), MMHE Program Office (0.0, 0.0%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Munitions Materiel Handling Equipment (MMHE) | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Insensitive Munitions (IM) and Emerging Technology | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Quick Sink Development | — | 0.0 | 89.3 |

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

### Project 655361 — Stores-Aircraft Interface

The Armament Ordnance Development program funds open standards development and maturation for adoption by USAF, Joint, and Coalition weapon systems for rapid integration, support, and operational use of the full range of armament capabilities. Weapons and weapon systems implementation of open armament interface standards provides rapid integration of software-defined capabilities, reduces development timelines, lowers life-cycle cost, and ensures interoperability with emerging capabilities. The Stores-Aircraft Interface project conducts stores-aircraft interface upgrades and standards development to include the Universal Armament Interface (UAI). This budget funds the Universal Armament Interface (UAI), a matured DAF-owned standard, that provides the continuous development, characterization, and improvements required to ensure integration for current, future, and legacy munitions, ammunitions, delivery systems, and subsystems. The Department of War Acquisition Transformation Strategy mandates Open Systems Architectures in all acquisition programs. UAI democratizes implementation of open architecture across the DAF, accelerating fielding of armament capabilities, breaking vendor lock and increasing return on investment for cost, agility, interoperability, and lethality operational outcomes. UAI has a direct impact on how quickly the service can implement the DoW Open Systems Architecture Initiative. The UAI delivers the standards needed to integrate new weapon capabilities on platforms at the speed of software, independent of aircraft Operational Flight Program (OFPs) cycles; thus, reducing costly regression testing for flight safety critical aircraft software. Planned implementations include Joint Strike Fighter (JSF/F-35), F-15EX, F-16, F-47, CCA, B-21, B-1, B-2, B-52, MQ-9, Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile - Extended Range (AARGM-ER), Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), SDB I & II, Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW), Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), Grey Wolf, Select Precision Effects At Range Capability 3 (SPEAR3), Joint Strike Missile (JSM), and Next-Generation Open Mission Services (NOMS) for mission planning. Funding directly supports the development, enhancement, and sustainment of open armament standards to support the emerging needs of the above adopting platforms and more.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** UAI Program Office (0.1, 1.7%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universal Armament Interface (UAI) Development | 4.1 | 5.6 | 5.8 |

> 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Industry primes | 93% | 90.4 |
| Other / unspecified | 6.6% | 6.4 |

**Top named industry performers:** Boeing ($89.3M, 92%).

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

## Mission & acquisition strategy

The Bombs & Fuzes project improves conventional weapons/munitions (kinetic and non-kinetic), fuzes, and height-of-burst sensors (HOBS), and develops and integrates complementary common weapon components, data links, position, navigation, and timing (PNT) capabilities (i.e. GPS, non-GPS, optical, passive, active, etc.) using modern acquisition best practices, to include digital acquisition practices (e.g. government-owned open system architectures, Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and agile software development).

Program management for the UAI program transitioned from the Fighters & Advanced Aircraft Directorate to the Architecture and Systems Engineering (ASE) group, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), located at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. As of August 2025, the ASE group has developed an updated acquisition strategy and awarded a contract vehicle to curate, mature, integrate, and field several open architecture efforts, including UAI. This contract vehicle leverages technical expertise via a modular contracting approach that allows for vendor on and offboarding every six months based on performance and phase objectives.

## Related program elements

- [0605056F — Standards Management](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0605056F) (Air Force)
- [0207573F — Prompt Diagnostics](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0207573F) (Air Force)
- [0605013A — Information Technology Development](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0605013A) (Army)
- [0602000D8Z — Joint Munitions Technology](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602000D8Z) (Defense-Wide)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0604602F (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604602F")`.

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