# Project MD33 — MD Space Exp Center (MDSEC)

**Program element:** 1206895C — Ballistic Missile Defense System Space Programs  
**Project:** MD33  
**Component:** Defense-Wide  
**Appropriation:** 0400 — RDT&E, Defense-Wide  
**Budget Activity:** 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206895C/MD33  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/1206895C

## Summary

Project MD33 — MD Space Exp Center (MDSEC) requests $88.5M in FY2027, 92% of the $95.8M requested for program element 1206895C, up 159% on FY2026. 2 R-2A activities decompose the request. JACOBS is the largest named R-3 performer at $21.7M, 25% of the project's FY2027 R-3 total.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 37.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 34.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 88.5 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 98.6 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 49.6 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 40.1 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 40.3 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 1206895C; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project MD33 buys

Space Applications for Missile Defense (SAMD) provides the functional elements of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Contractor Support Services, Federally Funded Research and Development Center/University Affiliated Research Center, and civilian manpower into a single entity that provides acquisition, financial, and technical support across the MDA Space Capabilities enterprise. In addition to the functional elements, this activity provides for developing and prototyping new space-based capabilities to support missile defense. SAMD also provides the MDSEA platform, Missile Defense Space Center (MDSC) infrastructure and Test and Integration Lab (TIL) which provides multi-mission ground segment and test integration support for current and future Missile Defense System Space Programs, to include the Discriminating Space Sensor (DSS) program. MDSEA is a highly scalable compute platform that provides mission commanding, data processing, and data storage services for the missile defense space architecture. The Spacebased Kill Assessment (SKA) system was composed of two segments: a space segment and a ground segment. The space segment was composed of a network of small infrared sensors (sensors, processor cards and cabling), each mated to a different satellite. The total number of sensors and their network placement was specifically tailored for the hit and kill assessment missions. The space segment included key design features to improve its resiliency. The ground segment monitored the health and status of the on-orbit sensors, commanded the sensors to perform the hit and kill assessment mission, and analyzed the data to make a hit/kill assessment determination. The ground segment also included the equipment necessary for communications security and information assurance. The Missile Defense Space Center (MDSC) provided the critical infrastructure for SKA data, routing SKA data between the commercial payload integrator and the multi-mission MDSEA. Due to higher Department of War priorities, the SKA experiment was cancelled in FY 2026 after successfully demonstrating hit-assessment capabilities from space.

**R-3 lines of work:** Product Development; Support; Management Services.

## Named R-3 performers

| Performer | $M | Share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total |
|---|---|---|
| JACOBS | 21.7 | 25% |
| NTSI | 4.5 | 5.1% |
| MODERN | 1.5 | 1.7% |

> Budget-justification contract funding, not obligations. Shares need not reach 100% — unnamed and government work is in the denominator.

## Activities (R-2A) — 2

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Space Applications for Missile Defense | 9.3 | 34.2 | 88.5 | +159% | — |
| Spacebased Kill Assessment | 27.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — |

> 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 Applications for Missile Defense

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** Increase from FY 2026 to FY 2027 provides for further disruptive technology development and prototyping and additional systems engineering and integration activities with partner space capabilities (SBI, operational HBTSS, PWSA) for Missile Defense System - Next.

### Spacebased Kill Assessment

**FY2027 planned work.** No funding is requested in FY 2027.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** No funding is requested in FY 2026.

## 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/1206895C.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 1206895C project MD33 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="1206895C")`.

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