What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 2556 of PE 0604840N. 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.
Continue Organizational Level support for all F135 Flight Test Block 4 Propulsion Systems and Intermediate Level support for a select few Propulsion systems as required by the Test & Evaluation team. This will include Engine Flight Test Mechanics, Flight Test Engineering, Engine Hardware, Test Engine Procurements, and other associated government costs. This support will transition to Organic support increasingly over the 2027 calendar year, to the fullest extent possible. This includes efforts performed by contractor and government installations, Autonomic Logistics Information System / Operational Data Integrated Network (ALIS/ODIN) transition, replacement of development-only hardware, and updating Joint Technical Data (JTD) packages as required. F135 ECU will continue funding risk reduction design, transition into the Engineering & Manufacturing Development phase, and facilitate delivery of long lead material for future ground test engines.
Considering FY2027 mandatory funding in addition to discretionary, the increase from FY2026 to FY2027 for F135 engine modernization efforts is due to the effort to accelerate the development and delivery of F135 ECU and F-35 PTMU. Both are critical propulsion upgrades for enhanced fleet readiness. Acceleration allows for achieving target fielding dates as well as support to the Block 4 aircraft.
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.
Continued Propulsion F135 Block 4 Integrated Flight Test Support to include Engine Flight Test Mechanics, Flight Test Engineering, Engine Hardware, Test Engine Procurements, research, component, and capability development, prototypes, various studies, and other associated government costs integral to support the developmental stages for engine modernization and improvement to support the F-35 Air Vehicle. Propulsion Flight Test Support enables the execution of Block 4 and Technology Refresh 3 (TR3) Requirements. Flight Test Support efforts will transition to Organic support in CY 2027. Transition of Flight Test Support requirements to organic capability includes efforts performed by contractor and government installations, Autonomic Logistics Information System / Operational Data Integrated Network (ALIS/ODIN) transition, replacement of development-only hardware, and updating Joint Technical Data (JTD) packages as required. F135 ECU will continue funding risk reduction design and facilitate delivery of long lead material for future ground test engines.
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 | 83.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 70.7 |
| FY2027 | Request | 47.1 |
This activity is 100% of project 2556's FY2027 request and 11% of PE 0604840N'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 2556
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.