What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 650015 of PE 1206855SF. 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.
Continue National Security Agency (NSA) cybersecurity certification process and procedures for AVE and GOE ECUs for the ESS Space Segment and ST2. Maintain all required and appropriate Interim Authority to Test (IATT) approval letter(s) from NSA. Deliver AVE and GOE PRAs to Space Segment and MIT- LL to support ST2 development. Begin integration support for for Space Assembly, Integration & Testing (AI&T) events upon delivery of the AVE and GOE PRA ECUs. Continue iterative development and delivery of software updates for the ECUs and continue to meet NSA's Crypto Modernization (CM) 2 and Security Evaluation Requirements Document (SERD) 2.0 requirements. With assistance from NSA, CCSD, and MIT/LL, plan for and conduct AVE and GOE ECU design verification, qualification, and acceptance milestones. Submit TEMPEST test plan to NSA, then begin TEMPEST testing. Conduct Functional Configuration Audit (FCA) and Physical Configuration Audit (PCA) and provide complete FCA and PCA data and artifacts packages to NSA and CCSD. Continue modification of the AEHF PKMA and KMI services and protocols to support ESS capabilities and features. Deliver cryptographic key material (Keys) and PKMA development equipment to support ECU Security Verification Testing and Space AI&T. Continue coordination with NSA through the ECU certification process and cryptographic key material delivery. Continue to fund CCSD, UARC, and FFRDC to provide program office support, planning, GFE, studies, technical analyses and information or resources in conjunction with the ESS Space Development and Production Contract. Continue the development to provide NSA-certified crypto solutions to support TT&C, Mission Data, TRANSEC, and COMSEC; includes all required cybersecurity, resiliency, and program protection activities, as well as Government support for contractor management and oversight. Continue to assist with requirements trades, technical design, threat assessment and mitigation strategies, and ESS testing assets to include the test terminal.
FY 2027 increased due to start of various NSA cybersecurity certification activities (SVT, TEMPEST testing, EMI/EMC testing, FCA/PRA, etc.) for the AVE and GOE ECU units along with ST2 interoperability testing with the delivery of GOE EDM ECU units to MIT/LL. In addition, modified PKMA test vectors/keys such as the M-keys (Maintenance Keys) will be formulated, verified, and validated through collaboration amongst CCSD, GOE ECU vendor, and NSA to perform preliminary interrogability testing of the GOE EDM and ST2 emulators. ECU transitioned from BA 04 Project 643725 in FY 2026 to BA 05 Project 650015 in FY 2027
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.
(Project 643725 BA 04) Continue the development and National Security Agency (NSA) cybersecurity certification process and procedures for AVE and GOE ECUs for the ESS Strategic Test Terminal (ST2). Upon successful completion of the PDRs and CDRs and development of engineering development models (EDMs) continue to execute AVE and GOE ECU contract through the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase. Develop and build the first ECU production representative articles (PRAs) for the Space Segment vendor to enable the complete manufacturing of an ESS Space Vehicle (SV). Deliver the first PRAs to MIT-LL to support the development of the ST2. Continue to fund CCSD, University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), and Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) to provide program office support, planning, GFE, studies, technical analyses and information or resources in conjunction with the ESS Space Development and Production Contract. Continue the development to provide NSA-certified crypto solutions to support Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C), Mission Data, Transmission Security (TRANSEC), and Communications Security (COMSEC); includes all required cyber, resiliency, and security activities required, as well as Government support for contractor management and oversight. Continue to assist with requirements trades, technical design approaches, threat assessment (e.g., VOLT) and mitigation approaches, and ESS testing assets to include the test terminal. Continue coordination with NSA through the ECU Certification process and modified-PKMA compatible cryptographic key material delivery. Continue activities and start work to modify AEHF-based PKMA and Key Management Infrastructure (KMI) to support ESS development and testing, and ramp up of the KMI services, protocols, and modification work required to be interoperable to fully support all ESS constellation requirements. GRIFFON transitioned from BA 04 Project 643725 in FY 2026 to BA 05 Project 650015 in FY 2027
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) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 52.2 |
This activity is 9.1% of project 650015's FY2027 request and 2.8% of PE 1206855SF'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 650015
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 project page.