What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project SF100 of PE 1160403BB. 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.
Initial development, testing, and integration of SO-p emerging technology mission kits, mission payloads, weapons and modifications onto the MQ-9 aircraft for UAS, GCSs, and training systems. Key efforts include enhancements to Operational Flight Program (OFP) Command and Control (C2) software development and Tactical situation enhancements. The MQ-9 platform is a key airborne enabler and provides a pathway for A2E capabilities.
Increase of $29.531 million supports MQ-9 Operational Flight Program (OFP) Command and Control (C2) software development and Tactical situation enhancements for interaction display software. These efforts are necessary to meet short term combat requirements today and set the condition for future improvements to meet warfighter needs in higher threat environments. In the FY 2026 budget submission, MQ-9 RDT&E funding was consolidated into the A2E program funding. However, to facilitate more transparent execution, funding supporting MQ-9 payloads is being re-aligned under the MQ-9 program in FY 2027 budget submission. This update eliminates redundancy and streamlines program oversight. FY 2027, Budget Line Items (BLI) consolidation: R-1 Program Element PE 1105219BB/MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is now in PE 1160403BB/Aviation Systems.
Three years, and no five-year plan
An R-2A activity publishes the prior year, the current year and the budget year. The FYDP outyears exist at project and program-element level and are deliberately absent here rather than inferred. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2027 | Request | 29.5 |
This activity is 24% of project SF100's FY2027 request and 14% of PE 1160403BB'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.
6 activities in project SF100
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.