What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 2576 of PE 0604840M. This is the budget justification's own description of work that has not happened yet — the one thing no other level of the budget carries.
FY2027 plans include capability development in collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) paired with F-35. This is critical for the integration and control architecture, which will allow for the procurement of CCA systems to achieve operational capability. The program will continue test planning and F-35B STOVL durability test article build to support ramp up of test execution. This durability test effort is required to verify the 8,000 hour full service life of the F-35B variant. Lab Based Security Assessment (LBSA) testing will be executed to verify Cross Domain Solution (CDS) improvements introduced to fulfill NSA Raise The Bar (RTB) requirements for cybersecurity. Various STOVL performance tests will funded such as fuel densiometer and narrow runway, as well as envelope expansion efforts for certain weapon types. USMC Unique Operational Test funding will support various integrated tests and investigations. The following will be funded in order to support the various tests and investigations: manpower, F-35 SAPF facilities, weapons, flight hours, range time, and chase, target & tanker support assets, as well USMC systems engineering efforts and other emerging USMC requirements.
Decrease from FY2026 to FY2027 is due to F-35B STOVL durability test article efficiencies and outside agency funding participation across multiple service unique efforts to include Virtual Warfare Center (VWC), Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), classified office space cost sharing, and T-SAPF contract efficiencies. iFMV investigative testing plans are maturing based on technology advancement and test schedules have been optimized.
FY2026: the year under way
Prior-year accomplishments and current-year plans from the same exhibit. Context for the FY2027 plan, not a series — an activity partitions its project exactly in the request year, but can under-cover it in earlier years.
FY2026 plans include capability development in collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) paired with F-35. This is critical for the integration and control architecture, which will allow for the procurement of CCA systems to achieve operational capability. The program will continue test planning and F-35B STOVL durability test article build to support ramp up of test execution. This durability test effort is required to verify the 8,000 hour full service life of the F-35B variant. Lab Based Security Assessment (LBSA) testing will be executed to verify Cross Domain Solution (CDS) improvements introduced to fulfill NSA Raise The Bar (RTB) requirements for cybersecurity. Various STOVL performance tests will funded such as fuel densiometer and narrow runway, as well as envelope expansion efforts for certain weapon types. USMC Unique Operational Test funding will support various integrated tests and investigations. The following will be funded in order to support the various tests and investigations: manpower, F-35 SAPF facilities, weapons, flight hours, range time, and chase, target & tanker support assets, as well USMC systems engineering efforts and other emerging USMC requirements.
Three years, and no five-year plan
An R-2A activity publishes the prior year, the current year and the budget year. The FYDP outyears exist at project and program-element level and are deliberately absent here rather than inferred. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 17.2 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 29.1 |
| FY2027 | Request | 22.7 |
This activity is 100% of project 2576's FY2027 request and 4.8% of PE 0604840M's. In the request year the activities under a project sum to it exactly; in the current year they under-cover it in about 9% of cases, so an activity's delta can legitimately exceed its parent's and the two must not be compared row to row.
1 activity in project 2576
Every R-2A line of this project, largest FY2027 request first. Linked where the activity has enough of its own narrative to carry a page; the rest are shown in full on the project page.