Isolated Personnel Survivability and Recovery

Mission — Isolated Personnel Survivability and Recovery source

This Program Element contains two projects that provide Air Force aircrew survival equipment to assist in personnel recovery in the event they become Isolated Personnel (IP). Project 65412B (Isolated Personnel): This project is for the Isolated Personnel Survival and Flight Equipment (IPSAFE) program which develops, test and fields aircrew survival components to support climate specific equipment and aims to increase the ability for IP to evade and survive in operational environments where rapid extraction is not possible. Project 654522 (CSAR EMD): This project is for the Next Generation Survival Radio (NGSR) program; an Air Force led development effort to replace the aging legacy Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) handheld radio (HHR) for the entire Joint Force. The NGSR will deliver communications capability supporting the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA) Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission to locate, authenticate, and communicate with Joint forces who become isolated. The NGSR program will replace legacy satellite communication and encryption methods to deliver secured end-to-end communication and locate and recover downed aircrew/special operations personnel. This program element may include necessary civilian pay expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver weapon system capability. The use of such program funds would be in addition to the civilian pay expenses budgeted in program elements 0605829F, 0605831F, 0605833F, 0605898F, 0606398F. In FY 2025 $0.319 million was expended for civilian pay expenses in this program element, and in FY2026 $0.947 million is forecasted for civilian pay expenses in this program element. The total cost of the Middle Tier of Acquisition effort is $222.400 million. The NGSR RP program is fully funded across the Future Years Defense Program. The FY 2026 cost of the Combat Survivor Evader Locator Next Generation Survival Radio Rapid Prototyping Middle Tier of Acquisition effort is reflected in the budget request, including RDT&E and procurement of prototype units. The Department will certify FYDP funding in a future budget submission. This program is in Budget Activity 5, System Development and Demonstration (SDD) because it has passed Milestone B approval and is conducting engineering and manufacturing development tasks aimed at meeting validated requirements prior to full rate production.

Mission — Isolated Personnel source

The Isolated Personnel Survival and Flight Equipment program develops, tests, and fields equipment designed to increase the survivability of the Isolated Person (IP), to support their evasion, resistance, and escape, and to signal their location to friendly rescue forces. To this end, IPSAFE includes the following component efforts: seat survival kits, single-seat life rafts, signaling communication, and other similar activities. These component efforts address on-going mission needs and provide for biome-specific equipment as requirements and the operational environment dictate. FY 2026 efforts will include conducting and completing market research, purchasing test articles and testing services, and conducting and completing test and evaluation activities for survivability equipment.

Mission — CSAR EMD source

The Next Generation Survivor Radio (NGSR) program is an Air Force led effort to replace the aging Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) Radio supporting the entire Joint force. The Department of Defense (DoD) plans for the NGSR Handheld Radio (HHR) system and support equipment to serve as the primary communications link for all DoD aircrew who become isolated personnel (IP). NGSR will replace legacy satellite communication and encryption methods to deliver communication capability in support of the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA) Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission to locate, authenticate, and communicate with Joint forces who become IPs. NGSR provides secure, over-the-horizon, two-way data communications and precise geo-positioning information to rescue forces. Additionally, NGSR is able to operate in anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) environments by providing a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) approved low probability of intercept/low probability of detection communication pathway for IPs. NGSR is one node of an overall personnel recovery network which includes multiple on-orbit satellite constellations, geographically dispersed satellite ground stations, joint service CSAR communication devices, and a Joint Personnel Recovery Center (JPRC) cloud-based web application. NGSR plans to incorporate modern encryption technology to comply with current National Security Agency (NSA) cryptographic standards. The Air Force will meet system objectives by executing a competitive Rapid Prototyping effort to design and build a production-ready NGSR artifact. Once prototyped, the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps will field the NGSR prototype to their respective services via a follow-on sole-source Rapid Fielding production contract. FY 2026 efforts include final development of both organic and Industry-led capabilities. The new Hand Held Radio prototype will complete development and begin the multi-year process of receiving National Security Administration (NSA) certification. FY 2026 funding will accelerate production and fielding of the NGSR system to fulfill the urgent need for a safe and secure communication pathway. FY 2026 funding will also allow for nation agencies to complete development of critical encryption functions and waveforms to increase alternate secured communications capabilities in combat environments. Additionally, FY 2026 funding will enable the organic development of user Web Application to transition from an unsecure to secure operating environment. Finally, FY 2026 funding allows of the development of support equipment to extend the capability of the NGSR system, supporting air and ground forces, and aircraft agnostic capabilities. The individual capabilities will be integrated into a complete system architecture using joint Service test and integration assets. The FY 2026 request was reduced by $0.117 million for Advisory and Assistance Services to promote efficiencies and advance the policies of the Administration in alignment with Executive Order 14222, "Implementing the President's Department of Government Efficiency Cost Efficiency Initiative.”

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (2)