# Project 645350 — Experimentation

**Program element:** 0604858F — Tech Transition Program  
**Project:** 645350  
**Component:** U.S. Air Force  
**Appropriation:** 3600 — RDT&E, Air Force  
**Budget Activity:** 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604858F/645350  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604858F

## Summary

Project 645350 — Experimentation requests $41.7M in FY2027, 25% of the $166.1M requested for program element 0604858F, up 191% on FY2026. 3 R-2A activities decompose the request.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 85.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 14.3 |
| FY2027 | Request | 41.7 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 57.4 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 58.4 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 59.5 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 65.4 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0604858F; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 645350 buys

The Experimentation project funds experimentation campaigns to explore new concepts and their applications in operationally relevant environments and within a system-of-systems warfighting context. Operational Experimentation Campaigns are directly aligned and integrated with Office of the Secretary of War (OSW) and Department of Air Force (DAF) priorities. Concepts and enabling technologies explored in this activity may include but are not limited to target custody; counter-targeting; airborne targeting and tracking; autonomy; spectrum warfare; artificial intelligence; machine learning; expeditionary base defense; agile combat operations; position, navigation, and timing; and joint all-domain operations. These technologies hold great promise; yet their transition to acquisition programs and fielded capabilities is typically hampered due to uncertainties regarding their military utility and organizational adoption. Experimentation campaigns assess hypotheses that new capabilities will deliver decisive competitive advantage against our adversaries in a dynamic threat environment. These campaigns dramatically shorten and reduce the overall cost of the acquisition process by delivering robust information including operational utility assessments, training, tactics, and procedures (TTPs), total life cycle cost estimates, preliminary product support strategy, reliability and maintainability metrics, operational utility assessments and Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, Facilities and Policy implications. Campaigns reduce follow-on acquisition and implementation risk through early accomplishment of key learning objectives. A key element of the experimentation campaigns is strong stakeholder partnerships and buy-in from senior DAF leadership including the Secretary of the Air Force, HAF/A5/7, HAF/A8, US Space Force Futures and Integration, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, warfighting Major Commands and Combatants Commands (capability recipients/end users), Space and Missile Systems Center, and Air Force Materiel Command (capability developers) that enables rapid transition of capabilities when operational utility, affordability, sustainability, and industrial capacity meet the DAF needs.

**R-3 lines of work:** Product Development; Support; Test and Evaluation; Management Services.

## Activities (R-2A) — 3

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emerging Requirements | 3.5 | 8.0 | 35.3 | +340% | [a1](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604858F/645350/a1) |
| USNORTHCOM Modeling, Simulation, and Experimentation | 6.0 | 6.3 | 6.5 | +2% | — |
| Experimentation Campaigns | 74.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — |

> Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. In the request year they partition this project exactly; in earlier years they can under-cover it.

### Emerging Requirements

- Continue to execute Air Force CSAT Blue Horizons Class XII Projects, developing candidate solutions to the Academic Year 2027 strategic dilemma posed by CSAF. Solutions will address the Homeland Defense, LRKC, Counter-HVAA, and Counter-Surface Action Group missions. - Conduct rapid experimentation to evaluate new capabilities and…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604858F/645350/a1

### USNORTHCOM Modeling, Simulation, and Experimentation

**FY2027 planned work.** - Continue to develop and mature the USNORTHCOM RDT&E and CoE program to provide innovative solutions and potential capabilities for decision-makers. Leverage a robust, scalable HPC infrastructure to address urgent operational needs through comprehensive experimentation targeting key mission gaps. Conduct modeling, simulation, and experimentation to support USNORTHCOM's role as the DoW Homeland Defense C-sUAS Synchronizer, to improve awareness and detection of adversary activities across the AOR.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** - FY 2027 funding increased compared to FY 2026 by $0.128 million. This increase is due to inflation.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Continuing to develop and mature the USNORTHCOM RDT&E and CoE program to provide innovative solutions and potential capabilities for decision-makers. Leverage a robust, scalable HPC infrastructure to address urgent operational needs through comprehensive experimentation targeting key mission gaps. Conduct modeling, simulation, and experimentation to support USNORTHCOM's role as the DoW Homeland Defense C-sUAS Synchronizer, to improve awareness and detection of adversary activities across the area of responsibility (AOR).

### Experimentation Campaigns

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Hawkeye Experimentation Campaign transitioned to Project 645352 Architecture Design and Evaluation in FY 2026.

## What is NOT on this page

Congressional marks, the R-2 mission description and acquisition strategy, the industry vs government split of the whole request, and related program elements are recorded at **program-element** grain — an NDAA mark lands on a PE, never on a project. They are at https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604858F.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0604858F project 645350 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604858F")`.

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