# Project 624846 — Spacecraft Payload Technologies

**Program element:** 1206601SF — Space Technology  
**Project:** 624846  
**Component:** U.S. Space Force  
**Appropriation:** 3620F — RDT&E, Space Force  
**Budget Activity:** 2 — Applied Research  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF/624846  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF

## Summary

Project 624846 — Spacecraft Payload Technologies requests $40.2M in FY2027, 17% of the $234.2M requested for program element 1206601SF, down 7.5% on FY2026. 2 R-2A activities decompose the request.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 47.4 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 43.5 |
| FY2027 | Request | 40.2 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 41.6 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 41.8 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 42.9 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 43.8 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 1206601SF; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 624846 buys

This project develops advanced technologies that enhance spacecraft payload operations by improving materials/component, networking, analysis tools, and subsystem capabilities. This project focuses on identifying and developing technologies that enable new, or enhance existing, communication, positioning, navigation, and timing satellite capabilities, as well as developing technologies and models that support space based surveillance and space asset protection.

## Activities (R-2A) — 2

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Space Communication/ Positioning, Navigation & Timing Technologies | 26.2 | 21.8 | 23.8 | +9% | [a1](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF/624846/a1) |
| Missile Warning and Tactical Sensing | 14.2 | 14.1 | 16.4 | +16% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF/624846/a0) |

> Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. In the request year they partition this project exactly; in earlier years they can under-cover it.

### Space Communication/ Positioning, Navigation & Timing Technologies

Continue: -Support field demonstrations and on-orbit experiments to characterize the interaction of communication, and position, navigation, and timing signals between the multi-layer, multi-function architectures in contested environments and exercise potential concept of operations. -Build on efforts to leverage Artificial…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF/624846/a1

### Missile Warning and Tactical Sensing

Continue: -Space-based sensors for resilient target custody by target tracking space architectures. -Data analytics and data mobility solutions for edge processing, information networking, and human-machine learning in support of tactical sensing and targeting. -Trusted Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Models…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF/624846/a0

## What is NOT on this page

Congressional marks, the R-2 mission description and acquisition strategy, the industry vs government split of the whole request, and related program elements are recorded at **program-element** grain — an NDAA mark lands on a PE, never on a project. They are at https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 1206601SF project 624846 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="1206601SF")`.

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