# Space Development and Production

**R-2A activity** of project 650014 — Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) Space  
**Program element:** 1206855SF — Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS)  
**Component:** U.S. Space Force · **Budget Activity:** 5  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206855SF/650014/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206855SF/650014

> **NEW START.** $1.27B requested in FY2027 with no prior-year and no current-year funding.

## Summary

This activity requests $1.27B in FY2027, 100% of project 650014 — a new start with no prior-year and no current-year money. 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.** ESS Space segment will complete all final design trades and reviews to complete space contractor Critical Design Review. After completion, ESS will enter Space Assembly Integration & Test (AI&T) and will begin integration activities to include ECUs into SVs and initial configuration testing. Further, ESS will continue SV payload emulator and Flatsat development and engineering design to support early integration with ESS ground C2 and existing strategic user terminals. Finally, ESS will continue any additional needed NRE. Significant classified facilities and lab testing efforts will occur to validate parts purchases and integration to meet nuclear communication requirements. SV1 and SV2 will begin initial assembly and production once all parts are tested and validated. New and updated manufacturing lines will be stood up at contractor and subcontractor facilities for ESS production. Begin work for initial test campaign plan with 4 Test and Evaluation Squadron and external test stakeholders to create plan for Operational Test and Acceptance. The ESS program will also continue software development for the payload and bus flight software and continue building digital twins to support the ESS digital engineering ecosystem. The digital engineering ecosystem is critical for design and integration risk reduction activities prior to building ESS space vehicles. Ancillary activities will involve starting or continuing special studies for survivability, resiliency, risk reduction, and architectural trades. 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, resiliency tech insertion, 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.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 increased due to completion of major technical and manufacturing milestones for SV1 and SV2. Complete critical hardware buys for SV1 and SV2 to include full assembly and parts integration into a functional vehicle for launch. Long lead parts will be tested for compliance and reliability for payload emulator as well as final integration into SVs for Hardware in the Loop Testing and space worthiness testing. SV assembly and resiliency requirements drive need for classified testing labs and facilities. The ESS system of systems Critical Design Review requires surge labor and engineering to finalize production ready designs for approval and integration. SV prototype test assets and simulators need to be purchased to support the Ground Segment to meet accelerated IOC timeline. Buys down risk related to ESS SoSI with space and ground milestone Assembly, Integration and Test events. This is the key integration event to validate working systems and interfaces between SV, crypto, and Ground C2 terminals. Space Development and Production transitioned to BA 05 Project 650014 in FY 2027

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** (Project 643725 BA 04) Continue significant Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) activities covering essential engineering, process documents, and building engineering models of flight hardware to lead up to a unit and system level critical design reviews (CDRs) in FY 2027. Additional NRE activities include developing and integrating auxiliary payloads, designing the ESS Payload Emulator and supporting SoSI activities with the ESS ground and crypto vendors. ESS is an extremely complex system of systems. The ESS space, ground, and crypto vendors will need to collaborate further to update and refine interface control documents, communication protocols, and software imaging formats. The program will procure additional critical hardware items necessary for the build and test of space vehicles (SVs) 1 and 2. The ESS SV vendor will continue developmental test activities with a crypto engineering development model (EDM) to reduce integration risk with the payload ECU. This activity will enable the successful integration of ESS crypto production representative articles (PRAs) in FY 2026. The ESS program will also continue software development for the payload and bus flight software and continue building digital twins to support the ESS digital engineering ecosystem. The digital engineering ecosystem is critical for design and integration risk reduction activities prior to building ESS space vehicles. Ancillary activities will involve starting or continuing special studies for survivability, resiliency, risk reduction, and architectural trades. 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. Space Development and Production transitioned from BA 04 Project 643725 in FY2026 to BA 05 Project 650014 in FY 2027

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 1,266.9 |

> 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.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Air Force RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 1206855SF project 650014 (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.*