What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 65A006 of PE 1206425SF. 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.
Key planned efforts include: SILENTBARKER-B: Continue development for the next increment of GEO-based SDA capabilities. Continue studies and development for future USSF SDA GEO space-based SDA capabilities leveraging commercial/DoW product lines. Support on-going mission data processing and dissemination efforts across SILENTBARKER and other SDA prototypes. Technology Development and Prototyping: Advance SDA capability through technology enhancements targeting evolving threats. FY 2027 efforts will include studies, analyses, demonstrations, and experimentation to support future upgrades, system extensions, and performance augmentations for surveillance. Prototype Mission (Oracle-M) and operational checkout for AFRL and SSC prototype mission to include contractor logistics support. Continue on-orbit experimentation, mission level technical baseline activities. The Oculus SV effort (YSG-XX) will transition to the SG-XX BPAC in FY27 to cover payload and bus integration and launch preparation. Enterprise Integration and Resiliency: Continue support for implementing resilient SDA systems and enhancing situational awareness. Activities may include program office support, technical studies, experimentation, integration and testing of C2 systems, mission partner interfaces, space test/combat range events, and related support efforts. Strategic Partnerships: FY2027 will further leverage commercial, international, and interagency collaboration opportunities to expand SDA capabilities and accelerate threat-responsive innovation.
The program received 236,854 thousands of mandatory (reconciliation) funding in FY26. In FY27, there is a funding decrease for Space-Based Space Domain Awareness (SDA).
FY2026: the year under way
Prior-year accomplishments and current-year plans from the same exhibit. Context for the FY2027 plan, not a series — an activity partitions its project exactly in the request year, but can under-cover it in earlier years.
Mandatory (reconciliation) funding in FY2026 will continue advancing space-based SDA capabilities critical to operations in the contested space domain, with a focus on system resiliency, prototyping, and operational experimentation. Key planned efforts include: SILENTBARKER Expansion: Continue launch preparations, integration, and development activities for the SILENTBARKER Expansion increment, as well as development for the follow-on SILENTBARKER-B increment to enhance GEO-based SDA capabilities. Support ongoing mission data processing and dissemination efforts across SILENTBARKER and other SDA prototypes. Technology Development and Prototyping: Advance SDA capability through technology enhancements targeting evolving threats. FY2026 efforts will include studies, SB-NEXT studies, analyses, demonstrations, and experimentation to support future upgrades, system extensions, and performance augmentations for surveillance and reconnaissance. Oculus Hosted Payload Program: Continue development and integration of SDA Hosted Payload on a commercial platform. FY 2026 will integrate the Oculus payload onto a host, including payload characterization and environmental testing. The Oculus effort remains a cost-effective GEO-based SDA gap-filler leveraging commercial and international partnerships. Prototype Missions (Oracle-M): Launch, on-orbit experimentation, and operations for AFRL and SSC prototype missions. Enterprise Integration and Resiliency: Continue support for implementing resilient SDA systems and enhancing situational awareness. Activities may include program office support, technical studies, experimentation, integration and testing of C2 systems, mission partner interfaces, space test/ combat range events, and related support efforts. Strategic Partnerships: FY 2026 will further leverage commercial, international, and interagency collaboration opportunities to expand SDA capabilities and accelerate threat-responsive innovation.
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) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 169.1 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 148.8 |
This activity is 100% of project 65A006's FY2027 request and 11% of PE 1206425SF'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.
1 activity in project 65A006
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.