# Air Vehicle Planning & Sys Eng

**R-2A activity** of project 2554 — Air Vehicle Block 4 Planning & Sys Eng  
**Program element:** 0604840N — F-35C C2D2  
**Component:** U.S. Navy · **Budget Activity:** 7  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604840N/2554/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604840N/2554

## Summary

This activity requests $132.1M in FY2027, 100% of project 2554, up 75% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** Continue and expand Agile development of capabilities through Developmental and Operational Flight Test. Continue requirements decomposition, preliminary design, and engineering and manufacturing development activities for advanced Block 4 capability improvements to Radar, Electronic Warfare, Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR), and Communication, Navigation, and Identification (CNI) sub-systems. Continue development and maturity of key long-lead capabilities and service unique weapons, enabling counter Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2AD) strategies including increased payloads, joint integrated fires, passive weapons, interoperability improvements, and multi-spectrum dominance in response to near-peer threats. Continue and expand application of cyber resilience engineering processes and tools for software, hardware, and weapons, to achieve cyber survivability, verified through integrated cyber testing events. Continue development and timely delivery of software drops to meet warfighter need. Support efforts for airframe, air vehicle systems, mission systems, Future Capabilities and Technology (FCAT), weapons integration efforts, and Air-Ship integration, including Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear (EMALS-AAG) launch bulletins, and related work. Develop the Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) capability that provides increased range and effectiveness of the F-35, by providing improved and increased interoperability across joint platforms within a highly contested environment. Bolster support for Block 4 Capabilities and advance systems engineering efforts associated with integration of advanced weapons and aircraft stores to accelerate delivery to the warfighter. Continue systems engineering, integration, and test development for avionics, sensors, weapons, studies and analyses, and risk reduction efforts. Work will continue on Digital Core and development infrastructure efforts for support of an F-35 mission systems integration laboratory, F-35 digital twin models, and to resolve software deficiencies.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The increase from FY2026 to FY2027 is to enhance F-35 Block 4 improvements and capabilities, including Digital Core and Weapons integration, and to ensure air system alignment with fleet delivery.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Continue and expand Agile development of capabilities through Developmental and Operational Flight Test. Continue requirements decomposition, preliminary design, and engineering and manufacturing development activities for advanced Block 4 capability improvements to Radar, Electronic Warfare, Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR), and Communication, Navigation, and Identification (CNI) sub-systems. Continue development and maturity of key long lead capabilities and service unique weapons, enabling counter Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2AD) strategies including increased payloads, joint integrated fires, passive weapons, interoperability improvements, and multi-spectrum dominance in response to near-peer threats. Continue and expand application of cyber resilience engineering processes and tools for software, hardware, and weapons, to achieve cyber survivability, verified through integrated cyber testing events. Continue development and timely delivery of software drops to meet warfighter need. Support efforts for airframe, air vehicle systems, mission systems, Future Capabilities and Technology (FCAT), weapons integration efforts, and Air-Ship integration, including Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear (EMALS-AAG) launch bulletins, and related work. Develop the Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) capability that provides increased range and effectiveness of the F-35, by providing improved and increased interoperability across joint platforms within a highly contested environment. Bolster support for Block 4 Capabilities and advance systems engineering efforts associated with AARGM-ER, AGM-158 family of weapons, network enabled weapons, and increased air-to-air missile carriage to accelerate delivery to the warfighter. Modernize digital infrastructure for co-development and co-verification in a virtual environment in an effort to integrate hardware accurate emulations and the operating environments through advanced digital engineering. Evaluate feasibility and decompose requirements for integration of External Fuel Tanks to support long-range missions of the F-35. Continue systems engineering, integration, and test development for avionics, sensors, weapons, studies and analyses, and risk reduction efforts.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 128.8 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 75.4 |
| FY2027 | Request | 132.1 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0604840N project 2554 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

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