# Technology Maturation

**R-2A activity** of project 657009 — Space Mod Initiative  
**Program element:** 1206442SF — Next Generation OPIR  
**Component:** U.S. Space Force · **Budget Activity:** 5  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206442SF/657009/a1  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206442SF/657009

## Summary

This activity requests $24.6M in FY2027, 14% of project 657009, up 126% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** Through Technology Maturation, Space Modernization Initiative (SMI) will continue to ensure the final components needed to meet Missile Warning/Missile Tracking (MW/MT) Enterprise-wide peak production demands for large format, resilient, high dynamic range infrared Focal Plane Arrays (FPAs) and protective filters and coatings for the FPAs. Advancing the FPA state-of-the-art is critical for space-based sensing and this thrust directly impacts manufacturability and cost reduction of sensors used in MW/MT Epochs and Space Development Agency (SDA) Tranches. Effort will involve higher resolution (8K X 8K) sensors for better tracking capabilities, supply chain resilience and domestic manufacturability, digital in-pixel Read Out Integrated Circuits (ROICs), and other advancements that provide increased capability and/or lower cost. The thrust will seek to transition developments into MW/MT Epoch 2 and inform Epoch 3 in order to merge various stovepipes of satellite tasking and inject event-based automation to the tasking architecture. This thrust will also be used to pursue activities that investigate the tasking and coordination of sensors across Space Systems Command (SSC), SDA, and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) assets. SMI will continue to propel emerging technologies to include more advanced hardened planar array antennas to meet the needs of Relay Ground Antenna (RGA) and Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Survivable Endurable Evolution (S2E2), meta optics, edge computing tools, and novel phenomenology sensor development to meet threats posed by our pacing adversaries in FY 2030.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 increased due to realignment of funds from the Demos thrust to the Tech Mat thrust to optimize mission investments.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** As the FY 2026 Technology maturation flagship investment, Space Modernization Initiative (SMI) will deliver the final components needed to meet Missile Warning/Missile Tracking (MW/MT) Enterprise-wide peak production demands for large format, resilient, high dynamic range Focal Plane Arrays (FPA) and protective filters and coatings for the FPAs. The thrust array will seek to transition developments for intelligent mission management into MW/MT Epoch 2 in order to merge various stovepipes of satellite tasking and inject event-based automation to the tasking architecture. Additionally, technology maturation will continue to propel emerging technologies to include meta optics, edge computing tools, and neuromorphic imaging in order to meet threats posed by our pacing adversaries in the FY 2030s.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 35.2 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 10.9 |
| FY2027 | Request | 24.6 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Other activities in project 657009

- [Data Processing & Analytics](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206442SF/657009/a2) — FY2027 78.1
- [Demonstrations/Prototypes](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206442SF/657009/a0) — FY2027 38.5
- [Capability Exploitation](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206442SF/657009/a4) — FY2027 20.0
- [Wide Field of View (WFOV) On-Orbit Testbed Mission Integration](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206442SF/657009/a3) — FY2027 18.2

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 1206442SF project 657009 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

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