RDT&E Program Element · President's Budget PB2027

Systems Engineering

PE 0605142D8Z·Defense-Wide·Approp. 0400 — RDT&E·BA6 — RDT&E Management Support
FY2027 Request
$22.0M
Defense-Wide · RDT&E
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Defense-Wide requests $22.0M in FY2027, sustained across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators funded it in full.

FY2027 Request
$22.0M
▼ 11% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$24.6M
▲ 2.9% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$23.9M
Prior year

Roll-up of 2 projects. Projects are the summable leaves — the PE total is their sum, never added to it.

For fiscal year 2027, Defense-Wide agencies are requesting $22.0M for Systems Engineering under RDT&E program element 0605142D8Z, down 11% from FY2026.

Funding trajectory

Funding profile, FY2025–FY2031

Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.

25023.9FY25ACTUAL24.6FY26ENACTED22.0FY27REQUEST23.5FY2824.4FY2924.9FY3024.9FY31
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual23.9
FY2026Enacted24.6
FY2027Request22.0
FY2028Outyear23.5
FY2029Outyear24.4
FY2030Outyear24.9
FY2031Outyear24.9
Where it sits

Acquisition lifecycle

This program is funded in RDT&E Budget Activity 6 — RDT&E Management Support.

Complete
Research
BA 1–2
Complete
Advanced Technology
BA 3
Complete
Prototyping
BA 4
Current
Development & Fielding
BA 5–7
Inside the program element

2 projects roll up into PE 0605142D8Z

Projects are the summable leaves — the PE total is their sum, never added to it. Program elements and projects carry the full five-year plan; activities stop at the budget year. This PE moves -11% overall, which can hide much larger swings below.

Congressional action

Congressional marks

Committee marks on the FY2027 request. Adds and cuts are reconciled in conference before they become law.

RequestPresident's Budget
$22.0M
House NDAA (HASC)HASC
$22.0M full · +$0
Senate NDAA (SASC)SASC
$22.0M full · +$0
House Approps (HAC-D)HAC_D
$22.0M full · +$0
unresolved as of 2026-07-27. These are FY2027 authorization marks (NDAA); appropriations and the conference agreement may differ.
Program detail

Mission & acquisition strategy

The Systems Engineering program element establishes dedicated funding to carry out the duties as described in 10 U.S.C 133a and the Department of Defense Directive 5137.02, “Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)),” dated July 15, 2020. In alignment with the 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS), particularly the line of effort to “Supercharge the U.S. Defense Industrial Base,” the program element supports key activities such as reforming the acquisition process, rapidly fielding emerging technologies, and building a resilient Joint Force.

Project 142, 152 — Systems Engineering
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Answers are generated from the figures on this page — the FY2027 justification exhibits and the marks tracked above — and nothing else is consulted. Confirm any figure against the cited exhibit before you use it externally.

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Questions this page can answer
How does the FY2027 request compare with FY2026, and what does the five-year plan show?What did the FY2027 NDAA committees do to this request?Which project inside PE 0605142D8Z is growing fastest, and which is shrinking?In plain terms, what is this program element for and how is it being acquired?

This page carries the budget justification and the NDAA marks — nothing else. For what a contractor has actually been obligated, the ledger is at hitchintel.com/vendors; for live solicitations, hitchintel.com/opportunities. Both are member surfaces.

Provenance

Cite this page

Sources
FY2027 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification · Exhibits R-2 / R-3 · PE 0605142D8Z (President's Budget PB2027) — and FY2027 NDAA committee marks, as tracked 2026-07-27.
Suggested citation
HitchAI, "Systems Engineering (PE 0605142D8Z)," federal budget intelligence, PB2027 vintage. hitchintel.com/programs/0605142D8Z
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Markdown twin /programs/0605142D8Z.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.combudget_get_program_element, budget_get_cong_marks
FY2027 Request
$18.9M
▼ 11% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$21.3M
▲ 1.2% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$21.0M
Prior year

Systems Engineering — one RDT&E project inside PE 0605142D8Z. Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, not on a project.

Project 142 — Systems Engineering — requests $18.9M in FY2027, 86% of the $22.0M requested for program element 0605142D8Z. Year over year it falls 11% against FY2026.

Funding trajectory

Project 142 funding, FY2025–FY2031

Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.

021.0FY25ACTUAL21.3FY26ENACTED18.9FY27REQUEST20.3FY2821.1FY2921.6FY3021.5FY31
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual21.0
FY2026Enacted21.3
FY2027Request18.9
FY2028Outyear20.3
FY2029Outyear21.1
FY2030Outyear21.6
FY2031Outyear21.5
Inside the project

1 accomplishment / planned program

The R-2A exhibit. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan — and they are descriptive: coverage is partial and they do not always add back to the project, so count them, never total them. Opening lines only here — the full year-by-year narrative is on the project page.

FY2025 actual$21.0M
FY2026 enacted$19.8M
FY2027 request$18.9M

• Continue to assist the practitioner in the development of their capabilities in the digital engineering ecosystem. • Continue to advance the implementation of the Secretary’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy (ATS) by modernizing systems engineering practices and enabling the Department to better leverage rigorous technical…

Read the FY2027 plan →
Project 142 — every activity in full →
Project detail

What project 142 buys

The Systems Engineering project provides resources to develop and promote advanced engineering principles, techniques, and practices across the Department of War (DoW); connects and strengthens the technical community; develops the engineering and technical workforce; advances and manages standards; and provides technical expertise for independent engineering assessments to advance the development and adoption of emerging technologies with speed and agility. Engineering is the backbone of technology development and transition, playing a crucial role in turning innovative ideas into practical and real solutions. On behalf of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (USW(R&E)), this project executes the following activities: • Supports DoW’s initiatives to modernize the DoW’s systems and software engineering practices to include the use of modular open systems approaches (MOSA) and advanced systems engineering techniques to build systems capable of seamlessly incorporating new technologies to respond to emerging threats. • Furthers the adoption of digital engineering, modeling, and simulations to allow the DoW to rapidly field and implement innovative technologies for the Joint warfighter. • Furthers the adoption of modern Agile/DevSecOps (Development, Security, and Operations) software practices and improves cross-organizational collaboration to modernize DoW software processes, capability, and expertise. • Facilitates execution of the Secretary of War initiative to modernize software acquisition to acquire, deliver, and iterate on our weapon and business systems software. Supports collaboration and management activities through the DoW Software Modernization Senior Steering Group in coordination with the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSW(A&S)), DoW Chief Information Officer (CIO), and the Military Services. • Improves delivery of advanced capability to warfighters by modernizing reliability and maintainability, manufacturing and quality, system safety, human systems integration, and value engineering practices. • Identifies, develops, manages, and provides access to standardization processes and products for the defense community to promote interoperability, reduce cost, and sustain readiness.

FY2027 Request
$3.1M
▼ 6.1% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$3.3M
▲ 15% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$2.9M
Prior year

Engineering Architectures — one RDT&E project inside PE 0605142D8Z. Congressional marks are recorded on the program element, not on a project.

Project 152 — Engineering Architectures — requests $3.1M in FY2027, 14% of the $22.0M requested for program element 0605142D8Z. Year over year it falls 6.1% against FY2026.

Funding trajectory

Project 152 funding, FY2025–FY2031

Prior years are actuals, the budget year is the request, and the outyears are the FYDP plan. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure. Projects carry the full five-year plan; the activities inside them stop at the budget year.

02.9FY25ACTUAL3.3FY26ENACTED3.1FY27REQUEST3.2FY283.3FY293.4FY303.4FY31
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual2.9
FY2026Enacted3.3
FY2027Request3.1
FY2028Outyear3.2
FY2029Outyear3.3
FY2030Outyear3.4
FY2031Outyear3.4
Inside the project

1 accomplishment / planned program

The R-2A exhibit. Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan — and they are descriptive: coverage is partial and they do not always add back to the project, so count them, never total them.

Engineering Architectures▼ 6%
FY2025 actual$2.9M
FY2026 enacted$3.3M
FY2027 request$3.1M

FY2027 planned work • Expand the SoS and architecture community of practice to incorporate industry leaders. • Demonstrate the effectiveness of architecture guidance and improve understanding throughout the community of practice. • Continue to draft and support implementation of policy in line with the SoS and architecture strategy. • Prototype new architecture methods with selected acquisition programs as identified by the community of practice. • Continue to support Commander USSTRATCOM by providing engineering architecture support to high-priority missions.

FY2026 to FY2027 change Decrease from FY 2026 to FY 2027 for $0.205M due to an anticipated maturation of the project after its initial startup.

FY2026 plans — current year • Establish a DoW systems engineering and architecture community of practice to share best practices and areas of concern. • Continue providing NC3 systems engineering and architecture assistance to USW(A&S) and Commander USSTRATCOM. • Assist Commander USSTRATCOM in the development of updates to the NC3 Enterprise Engineering Management Plan. • Prototype with non-traditional contractors novel methods to address practitioner pain points related to development architectures. • Expand technical assistance to other Joint capabilities (e.g., Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture (JCWA)). • Maintain and expand the SoS and architecture community of practice. • Build an engineering and architecture…

FY2025 accomplishments • Update the Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) Technology Development Plan to reflect changes in NC3-related research and development (R&D) efforts and how they address NC3 gaps. • Provide NC3 systems engineering and architecture assistance to the USD for Acquisition and Sustainment(A&S)and CDR USSTRATCOM. • Assist CDR USSTRATCOM in the development of the NC3 Enterprise Engineering Management Plan. • Provide systems engineering and architecture assistance to CJADC2. • Support the update to the Systems Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems, incorporating best practices learned from support to the NC3 program.

Project detail

What project 152 buys

The Engineering Architectures project advances efforts in system-of-systems architecture for the Department of War. The project supports the development of an enterprise-wide strategy to integrate existing and future systems to improve the Department’s technological advantage in joint, multidomain operations. Systems Engineering and Architecture (SE&A) develops policy, guidance, and training to enable rigorous engineering and the accelerated delivery of affordable, innovative, and operationally relevant mission capabilities for U.S. all-domain dominance in an environment with scarce resources, near-peer threats, and continual, rapid, and complex technological change. On behalf of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (OUSW(R&E)), this project executes the following activities: • Supports acquisition programs in the development and execution of system-of-systems engineering and architectures to enable accelerated delivery of innovative mission capabilities. • Supports the development of enterprise system-of-systems engineering architecture guidance to facilitate improved interoperability in acquisition programs. • Develops a workforce capable of fielding and sustaining enterprise system-of-systems engineering and architectures.