# Army Evaluation Center — Program Element 0605716A

**Program element:** 0605716A  
**Component:** U.S. Army  
**Appropriation:** 2040 — RDT&E, Army  
**Budget Activity:** 6 — RDT&E Management Support  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0605716A

## Summary

U.S. Army requests $65.6M 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.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 73.2 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 62.3 |
| FY2027 | Request | 65.6 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 65.8 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 66.5 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 67.3 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 68.2 |

> Estimate types are not summed — the profile mixes actuals, enacted law, the request, and outyear projections.

## Congressional marks (FY2027)

| Stage | Marked ($M) | Change ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| Request | 65.6 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 65.6 | +0.0 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 65.6 | +0.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 65.6 | +0.0 |

> FY2027 NDAA authorization marks, as of 2026-07-27. Not appropriations or final law.

## Projects (1)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 302 | Army Evaluation Center | 73.2 | 62.3 | 65.6 | +5% |

> Projects are the summable leaves: the program element total is their sum, never added to it.

### Project 302 — Army Evaluation Center

This project provides the resources to operate the Army Evaluation Center (AEC), the Army's independent evaluator for Army Futures Command (AFC) Cross Functional Team (CFT) efforts and all other Army and Joint Service programs (currently over 900 programs in total). AEC is the lead agent to plan, direct, and evaluate all required program testing and is the unbiased, independent authority for reporting on system progress to enable the Army to dominate in the multi-domain operational environment. AEC is the focal point in test strategy development, system safety verification, and data analyses from early developmental consumer tests through operational tests. AEC develops Critical Operational Issues and Criteria (COIC) in conjunction with AFC to narrow the focus of testing to what is essential. AEC reviews and shapes system requirements to ensure they do not drive unnecessary testing. AEC provides critical independent assessments on system effectiveness, suitability, survivability (ESS), and safety to include cybersecurity; electronic warfare (EW); artificial intelligence (AI); machine learning (ML); safety of materiel solutions; and viability of emerging technologies and engineering change proposals to support major acquisition/fielding decisions including but not limited to acquisition milestones, materiel changes, and materiel releases. AEC is responsible for all assigned developmental and independent operational evaluations of Army materiel, information, and acquisition systems. AEC must remain independent from the development community. AEC assists the Chief of Staff of the Army decision making process by supporting Army Capabilities Integration Development System (A-CIDS) processes as well as supporting the AFC through the CFT concept. AEC evaluates operational effectiveness by determining if the system provides intended benefits to the Force. AEC assesses, confirms, and releases system safety for use by Soldiers upon fielding and during government sponsored experiments and demonstrations. AEC determines impacts to readiness through Human Systems Integration, Unit Systems Integration, and Army Systems Integration, as well as doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities and policy impacts.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army Evaluation Center Civilian Pay | 70.5 | 60.5 | 63.3 |
| Army Evaluation Center Operations Support | 2.7 | 1.8 | 2.3 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

## Mission & acquisition strategy

This funding line supports test and evaluation (T&E) of Army Transformation Priority Programs. This Program Element (PE) provides the resources to operate the Army Evaluation Center (AEC), the Army's independent evaluator for Army Futures Command (AFC) Cross Functional Team (CFT) efforts and all other Army and Joint Service programs (currently over 900 programs in total). AEC is the lead agent to plan, direct, and evaluate all required program testing and is the unbiased, independent authority for reporting on system progress to enable the Army to dominate in the multi-domain operational environment.

## Related program elements

- [0603851M — Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Testing](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603851M) (Navy)
- [0603713N — Ocean Engineering Tech Dev](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603713N) (Navy)
- [0601000BR — DTRA BASIC Research](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0601000BR) (Defense-Wide)
- [0605706A — Materiel Systems Analysis](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0605706A) (Army)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0605716A (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0605716A")`.

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