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RDT&E Program Element · President's Budget PB2027

EO/IR Weather System Dev

PE 1203710SF·U.S. Space Force·Approp. 3620F — RDT&E·BA4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes
FY2027 Request
$144.4M
◆ Scaling +107%
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U.S. Space Force funding ramps 107% to a $144.4M request 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 added 5.7% (to $152.7M). General Atomics leads the industry work.

FY2027 Request
$144.4M
▲ 107% vs FY2026
FY2026 Enacted
$69.8M
▲ 4.2% vs FY2025
FY2025 Actual
$67.0M
Prior year

For fiscal year 2027, the U.S. Space Force is requesting $144.4M for EO/IR Weather System Dev under RDT&E program element 1203710SF, up 107% over 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.

50100150200250067.0FY25ACTUAL69.8FY26ENACTED144.4FY27REQUEST154.3FY28166.2FY29163.2FY30263.6FY31
Actual Enacted Request Outyear (FYDP)
Fiscal YearEstimate TypeAmount ($M)
FY2025Actual67.0
FY2026Enacted69.8
FY2027Request144.4
FY2028Outyear154.3
FY2029Outyear166.2
FY2030Outyear163.2
FY2031Outyear263.6
Where it sits

Acquisition lifecycle

This program is funded in RDT&E Budget Activity 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes.

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

1 project rolls up into PE 1203710SF

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 107% overall, which can hide much larger swings below.

Project 643730

EO/IR Weather System Dev

$144.4MFY2027 request ▲ 107%
FY2025 actual$67.0M
FY2026 enacted$69.8M
FY2027 request$144.4M
Product DevelopmentManagement Services

System Delta 810 is developing Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) Weather System (EWS) (Project 643730) for Guardians across the Weather Mission Area. As a result, the Service will deliver space domain awareness capabilities, continue to advance all near term effects, and provide resilient infrastructure, equipment, and personnel. Environmental Monitoring (EM) mission area funding enables development and fielding of the next generation of space-based EM (SBEM) capabilities to replace legacy systems as they reach their mission end of life, and continue global, 24/7, persistent coverages over terrestrial and upper atmosphere meteorological phenomena to enhance battlespace awareness for the theater commanders, protection of national/strategic assets and population centers and provide support to the intelligence community. There are three main system capabilities that comprise the Department of War (DoW) SBEM mission area; electro-optical, microwave and space weather. EO/IR capabilities measure terrestrial meteorological phenomena, as well as 3-dimensional cloud mapping to support air/ground operations and provide support to the intelligence community. Microwave capabilities focus on sea surface conditions, upper atmospheric temperature/moisture profiles and severe storm tracking to support US/allied naval operations and protection of strategic assets/population centers. Space weather monitoring capabilities monitor upper ionospheric regions for charged particles and solar wind phenomena to provide early warning on-orbit asset protection. The SBEM mission area seeks to address DoW weather requirements, as defined in previous Joint Requirements Oversight Council Memo (JROCM) 092-14, dated Sep 2014, encompassing Category A, B and C weather gap needs. In addition, aligned to USSF Chief of Space Operations (CSO) Commercial Space Strategy of 2024, the EM mission area will integrate commercial space capabilities into DoW weather architecture/operations to increase resiliency, capability and competitiveness. In addition to commercial integration, the EM mission area will also maintain persistent theater weather imagery and cloud coverage needs over the Indian Ocean region with Geostationary EO/IR capabilities after EO/IR Weather System Geostationary #2 (EWS-G2) mission end of life.

Accomplishments / planned programs (R-2A) — prior, current and budget year only
Electro-Optical/Infrared Weather System (EWS)▼ 1%
FY2025 actual$67.0M
FY2026 enacted$69.8M
FY2027 request$69.0M

Conduct Operational Demonstration #1 pre-ship review ahead of shipment of completed space vehicle to payload processing facility for launch base processing. Support launch and on-orbit checkout of General Atomics Ops Demo #1, characterizing its performance to provide ops-quality data, meet Department of War (DoW) Environmental Monitoring…

Read the FY2027 plan →
EM Data as a ServiceNEW
FY2025 actual—
FY2026 enacted$0.0M
FY2027 request$37.5M

The EM DaaS effort continues the Muon SBEM variant contract, which transferred from the EWS Major Thrust in FY 2026. The FY 2027 Muon SBEM variant satellite effort will launch two satellites for DoW weather center suitability assessment. The EM DaaS program will mature technologies through commercially funded on-orbit demonstrations…

Read the FY2027 plan →
Commercial GEO EO/IRNEW
FY2025 actual—
FY2026 enacted$0.0M
FY2027 request$37.9M

Procure long lead equipment for EWS-G Remote Ground Station (RGS) in Western Australia to include high data rate mission data antennas. Begin engineering and integration design work for EWS-G RGS upgrade. Award multiple concept design contracts for Commercial GEO EO/IR capabilities through System Readiness Review-level maturity and award…

Read the FY2027 plan →
Congressional action

Congressional marks

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

RequestPresident's Budget
$144.4M
House NDAA (HASC)HASC
$144.4M full · +$0
Senate NDAA (SASC)SASC
$144.4M full · +$0
House Approps (HAC-D)HAC_D
$152.7M +$8.3M · +5.7%
▲ $8.3M chamber gap — unresolved as of 2026-07-27. These are FY2027 authorization marks (NDAA); appropriations and the conference agreement may differ.
Who's building it

Where the FY2027 request goes

Performers named in the R-3 exhibit, resolved into industry, government-lab, and unspecified shares. Budget-justification contract funding, not obligations.

General Atomics
$28.3M · 20%
Phase II Demo 1 · FFP
Where FY2027 funding flowsShare$M
Industry primes22%31.1
Government labs & warfare centers6.8%9.8
Other / unspecified72%103.6
FY2027 request100%144.4
See General Atomics's full federal contract ledger members →
Program detail

Mission & acquisition strategy

System Delta 810 is developing Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) Weather System (EWS) (Project 643730) for Guardians across the Weather Mission Area. As a result, the Service will deliver space domain awareness capabilities, continue to advance all near term effects, and provide resilient infrastructure, equipment, and personnel. Environmental Monitoring (EM) mission area funding enables development and fielding of the next generation of space-based EM (SBEM) capabilities to replace legacy systems as they reach their mission end of life, and continue global, 24/7, persistent coverages over terrestrial and upper atmosphere meteorological phenomena to enhance battlespace awareness for the…

In accordance with the approved space-based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) Acquisition Strategy (Sep 2020), the EWS program will continue to use Other Transaction Authority (OTA) to competitively pursue technological advancements in smaller sensor designs and leveraging commercial-based capabilities to develop the most optimal solution to long-term Cloud Characterization and Theater Weather Imagery needs. The Phase II modernized pathfinder efforts will include OTA under Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contracts for technology risk reduction and operational demonstration efforts, while minimizing developmental cost risks.

Project 643730 — EO/IR Weather System Dev
  • Product Development
  • Management Services
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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?How is the FY2027 request split between industry and government performers?In plain terms, what is this program element for and how is it being acquired?
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This page carries the budget justification and the NDAA marks — nothing else. For what General Atomics 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 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification · Exhibits R-2 / R-3 · PE 1203710SF (President's Budget PB2027) — and FY2027 NDAA committee marks, as tracked 2026-07-27.
Suggested citation
HitchAI, "EO/IR Weather System Dev (PE 1203710SF)," federal budget intelligence, PB2027 vintage. hitchintel.com/programs/1203710SF
Machine access
Markdown twin /programs/1203710SF.md · MCP mcp.hitchintel.com → budget_get_program_element, budget_get_cong_marks