What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 657MEO of PE 1206447SF. 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.
Space: Continue Epoch 2 activities to finalize Critical Design Review (4Q FY 2026) for two planes of capability consisting of ten missile warning & tracking space vehicles. The vendor will execute Payload Integration and Test; Bus Material Readiness Review; Bus Test Readiness Review; Bus Integration and Test; Ground Software Demos (for Ground Segment Integration); conduct Mission Systems Engineering Integration and Test activities; and develop procedures for the Launch Early Operations and Test campaign. Epoch 2 Planes 1 and 2 will be prepared for staggered Pre-Ship Reviews and deliveries to the launch site in 2Q FY 2029 and 4Q FY 2029. The program office will be executing source selection activities for a second Other Transaction for Prototype Agreement award for a third plane of Epoch 2 capability comprised of three to six additional missile warning & tracking satellite vehicles. Award is anticipated no earlier than 1QFY27. The Epoch 2 Vendor 2 will finalize System Readiness Review and Preliminary Design Review for up to two additional planes of capability (space vehicle quantity TBD). Epoch 2 Vendor 2 will work towards a critical design review in FY 2028. Ground: The ground infrastructure will support two planes in development and continue to expand to support a full four plane architecture. The mission data processing application development, command and control software, and facilities build will continue to support the lead up to Epoch 2 Plane 1 initial launch capability. The Ground Management and Integration contract will continue to add Epoch 2 capability to the Boulder Ground Innovation Facility (BGIF) MEO Space Operations Center (MSOC), continue the planned build-out of a Backup MSOC. Ground will also continue to develop and build-out up to two additional Ground Entry Point (GEP) sites. In the meantime, Epoch 2 will continue to leverage existing GEP sites, one through three, for mission data and command and control requirements. Funds allow both space and ground efforts to rapidly respond to implement system resiliency and situational awareness necessary to operate in the contested space domain. Activities may include, but are not limited to program office support, studies, technical analysis, experimentation, risk reduction, prototyping, and activities that may leverage commercial, U.S. Government partnership, and international opportunities to respond to existing and emerging adversarial threats with speed and agility.
FY 2027 increase due to the awards of Vendor 2 and Ground Management and Integration contract.
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.
Space: Continue Epoch 2 activities to include managing multiple contracts executing space system development, ground segment development, and integration at our operating center. Will consist of preliminary and critical design reviews that finalize the designs. Primes will transition from design to build of space vehicles and ground development. Epoch 2 will build out the architecture for global missile tracking with up to four planes of additional capability. Ground: Begin site surveys and selection process for additional GEP locations needed for Epoch 2. Initiate and award Ground Management and Integration contract to add Epoch 2 capability to the MSOC, to build a Backup MSOC, and to build additional GEPs. Start design of Epoch 2 MSOC fit up for additional space vehicle provider operations at BGIF, design of Backup MSOC, & additional GEPs. Funds allow both space and ground efforts to rapidly respond to implement system resiliency and situational awareness necessary to operate in the contested space domain. Activities may include, but are not limited to program office support, studies, technical analysis, experimentation, risk reduction, prototyping, and activities that may leverage commercial, U.S. Government partnership, and international opportunities to respond to existing and emerging adversarial threats with speed and agility.
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 | 297.5 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 468.6 |
| FY2027 | Request | 1,154.5 |
This activity is 82% of project 657MEO's FY2027 request and 82% of PE 1206447SF'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.
2 activities in project 657MEO
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 program-element page.