What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 657009 of PE 1206442SF. 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.
The flagship investment for SMI Demonstrations in FY 2026 matures into FY 2027 as the orbital vehicles manufactured by K2 Space complete integration and are launched into MEO. The current plan is to test Space Development Agency (SDA) v4.0 optical crosslinks in orbit from multiple orbital vehicles in MEO and in a higher orbit (in collaboration and coordination with SDA and other mission partners) two years ahead of the planned launch of MW/MT Epoch 2. Space-to-space, space-to-ground, and high-throughput long-distance communication links will be tested. In addition, the current plan includes integration of a low-cost on orbit Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) sensor to pathfind high-throughput optical data pathways, to act as a pathfinder for on-orbit track fusion algorithms in collaboration with Wide Field of View (WFOV) and provide residual mission capability. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory's Agamotto Event Based Sensor (AEBS), launched in FY 2026 in collaboration with a mission partner, will yield data in FY2027 for detailed analysis, enabling the true evaluation of this sensor capability across a breadth of mission profiles. Further investment will continue in orbital demonstration and prototyping of novel sensor types, including Mid-Long Wave Infrared sensors, Event Based Cameras, High Dynamic Range (HDR) sensors, hyperspectral, and Middle Ultraviolet sensors to enable cold-target tracking with a design for rapid iteration and implementation. Space Modernization Initiative (SMI) will continue to seeking partnership and rideshare opportunities to demo on-orbit capability and reduce risk for Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Missile Warning/Missile Tracking (MW/MT) Epoch 3 and future systems. SMI will demonstrate ground architectures to inform the requirements process that enable resilient, proliferated capabilities such as phased array antennas (one such effort is with ThinKom), optical ground terminals, and other low-cost solutions. This thrust will also explore Ground Station as a Service (GSaaS) demonstration opportunities.
FY 2027 decreased due to realignment of funds from the Demos thrust to the Tech Mat thrust to optimize mission investments.
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.
Test and demonstrate Low Size Weight and Power (SWaP), high bandwidth, agile crosslinks for MEO MW/MT Epoch 2 as the FY 2026 flagship investment for SMI Demonstrations. Deliver the necessary technical data to inform Epoch 2 of viable implementation paths, provide prototype hardware for on-orbit demonstrations, and reduce risk to the FY 2028 launch and Initial Warfighting Capability. Exploit early development of novel MW/MT phenomenologies to prove feasibility for cold target tracking. Transition Mid-Long Wave Infrared sensors, Event Based Cameras, and Middle Ultraviolet sensors into integrated demonstrations with mission partners to prove new capabilities are ready to onboard into MEO MW/MT Epoch 3. These technologies are aimed to close a capabilities gap in traditional infrared missile tracking.
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 | 30.4 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 46.8 |
| FY2027 | Request | 38.5 |
This activity is 21% of project 657009's FY2027 request and 18% of PE 1206442SF'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.
5 activities in project 657009
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.