# Space Control

**R-2A activity** of project 625018 — Spacecraft Protection Technology  
**Program element:** 1206601SF — Space Technology  
**Component:** U.S. Space Force · **Budget Activity:** 2  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF/625018/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF/625018

## Summary

This activity requests $25.1M in FY2027, 51% of project 625018, up 8.3% 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.** Continue: -Developing sophisticated techniques to detect, identify, track, characterize, and catalog satellites using multi-phenomenology sensing with particular focus on space situational awareness for novel and challenging orbits. -Science & Technology feeding flight experiments that will demonstrate utility of cislunar situational awareness for establishing and transferring custody, tracking, and deterring threats from deep space. -Studies to inform upgrades to operational tools used in space situational awareness. -Development of on-orbit threat warning sensing and assessment using on-board satellite sensors. -Research on cyber vulnerability and cyber hardening methods of space assets with laboratory testbeds, developing standards and techniques. -Demonstration of cyber hardening techniques aboard on-orbit experiments through established pipeline of flight experiments. -Developing on-board autonomous satellite technologies, emphasizing operational resilience and tactical action, awareness across operator ground and space interfaces, enabling tactical awareness for distributed system elements, and many-to-many engagements plans for next generation flight experiments. -Developing on-board autonomous satellite techniques, enabling Dynamic Space Operations by using resilient in-space maneuver, refueling & rendezvous proximity operations for space control and defensive CONOPs. -Experimentation and exercises with Department of War ground architectures, operations centers, commercial and international partners. -On-orbit experimentation with cyber resilience, reactive protection, and autonomous defense capabilities. -Exploration of spacecraft Electronic Support Measures (ESM) Research & Development. -Exploration of space Electronic Warfare (EW) research & development for all space warfighting orbital domains. -Studies, assessments, and engineering trades to support spectrum resilience via radio frequency sensing to support multi- satellite, multidomain spectrum dominance.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 increased compared to FY 2026 by $1.919 million due to transitions to Combat Forces Command (CFC) and increased exercises with DoW, commercial, and international partners.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Continue: -Developing sophisticated techniques to detect, identify, track, characterize, and catalog satellites using multi-phenomenology sensing with particular focus on space situational awareness in the cislunar environment. -Science & Technology feeding flight experiments that will demonstrate utility of cislunar situational awareness for establishing and transferring custody, tracking, and deterring threats from deep space. -Studies to inform upgrades to operational tools used in space situational awareness. -Development of on-orbit threat warning sensing and assessment with emphasis on spectrum awareness and inherent, on-board satellite sensors. -Research on cyber vulnerability and cyber hardening methods of space assets with laboratory testbeds, developing standards and techniques. -Demonstration of cyber hardening techniques aboard on-orbit experiments through established pipeline of flight experiments. -Developing on-board autonomous satellite technologies, emphasizing operational resilience for tactical action, awareness across operator ground and space interfaces, enabling tactical awareness for distributed system elements, and many-to-many engagements plans for next generation flight experiments. -Developing on-board autonomous satellite techniques, enabling Dynamic Space Operations by using resilient in-space maneuver, refueling & rendezvous proximity operations for space control and defensive CONOPs. -Experimentation and exercises with Department of War ground architectures, operations centers, commercial and international partners. -On-orbit experimentation with cyber resilience, reactive protection, and autonomous sensing capabilities -Exploration of spacecraft Electronic Support Measures (ESM) Research & Development. -Studies, assessments, and engineering trades to support spectrum resilience via radio frequency sensing to support multi- satellite, multidomain spectrum dominance. Complete: -Integration and testing of multiple cyber resilience, reactive protection, and autonomous sensing capabilities into on-orbit demonstrations.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 23.2 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 23.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 25.1 |

> 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 625018

- [University Consortium for Space Research](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206601SF/625018/a1) — FY2027 24.0

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 1206601SF project 625018 (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.*