Printed from https://fiscalreceipts.com/program/0305205F/ — data as of July 28, 2026. Every figure is citation-backed; see the page online for per-number provenance.
Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Budget Figures
FY2026 award data is a partial year — USASpending awards are reported on a rolling basis and the fiscal year does not close until September 30. why partial FY2026 data? →
Insufficient trajectory data for sparkline (only FY24 available).
● actuals (line) · ○ enacted · ◇ request — gaps are editions the program is absent from, never interpolated.
| Series | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actuals | $20.0M | $5.00M | $50.0M | $40.0M | $15.0M | $15.0M | – | $0 | – | $30.0M |
| Enacted | $5.00M | $0 | $0 | $15.0M | $15.0M | $0 | – | $0 | $30.0M | |
| Request | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | – | $30.0M |
blank = series not published for this year; – = absent from that edition.
Asked vs spent: the PB2017 book requested $0 for FY2017; the PB2019 book reports $50.0M actually spent — $50.0M above the request.
Program Lineage
No predecessor/successor lineage was recorded for this program element — no FY-to-FY transfer into or out of this line was stated in the ingested J-books, and none was inferred from the program structure.
Description
Mission — Engineering Analysis
The Ultra Long-endurance Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA) is an Air Force-led technology and concept development effort to demonstrate, transition, and field an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) that is capable of multiple-day duration flights while still being extremely affordable. ULTRA is a shift in UAS design paradigm by significantly leveraging commercial-off-the-shelf technologies to minimize expensive custom/proprietary items while at the same time simplifying maintenance and manpower costs. The payload integration for ULTRA maintains a modular and flexible architecture to allow for rapid integration of customer-driven payload options. ULTRA was initiated by the Air Force Research Lab in 2018 in response to demand signals for long-endurance ISR that maintains an affordable edge. ULTRA leverages and builds off the successes and lessons learned of several AFRL, DoD, and other partner-funded development efforts from 2015-2021, including the Long Endurance Aerial Platform UAS which transitioned in 2019 and a number of unique payload developments and integrations. These prior developments guided and informed the initial development and demonstration of ULTRA. The initial ULTRA UAS was developed in 2018 and flight-tested in 2019. In 2020 ULTRA performed limited operational test and evaluation over a six-month period, the results of which informed payload and system requirements to meet current and future needs. Future operational test and evaluation in relevant operational environments is a critical next step in developing ULTRA as an affordable ultra-long endurance ISR platform that is responsive to current and future needs. 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 element 0605827F, 0605828F, 0605829F, 0605831F, 0605832F, 0605833F, 0605898F, 0606398F. No FY26 Funding is requested. 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.
Justification
Accomplishments & Planned Programs (1)
Ultra Long-endurance Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA) Flight Demonstration
This effort is not a new start. It is a flight demonstration of the ULTRA program, which was previously executed in FY23 and prior years under Program 0604555D8Z Operational Energy Prototyping, and under Section 219 authorities. This effort conducts integration and preparation work required to prepare the ULTRA platform for flight demonstration in operationally relevant environments in response to an urgent operational need. It leverages technologies and expertise from across all of the Air Force Research Laboratories, integrating and testing a variety of technologies.
Budget Line Items(workbook-cited)
Exhibit R-1
| Account | Org | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force | F | FY24 Actuals | $30.0M |
Budget Details(R-2/P-40 facts)
| Project | All Prior Years | FY24 Actuals | FY25 Total | FY26 Base | FY26 Request |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 654236: Engineering Analysis | $0 | $30.0M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Program Element | $0 | $30.0M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
No follow-the-dollar view — this program's awards haven't been crosswalked at high confidence (flows cover 17 of 1741 programs). why coverage is partial? →
Awards
No awards are linked to this program element at high confidence — the budget→award crosswalk only asserts links it can defend, and this line has none yet.
Lobbying Mentions
No Senate LDA lobbying filing in the tracked data mentions this program element by code or alias.
No research dossier for this program — dossiers cover 50 of 1741 programs, the largest fully J-book-detailed lines by FY2026 requested dollars. why no dossier here? →