Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)… (PE 0305242M) · Navy

What it is

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Payloads (MIP) (0305242M) is a Navy research & development line funded in the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy account. Its J-book detail breaks the line into 1 project.

What changed

-$1.76M FY25→26 R-1 TOA · PB2026

Who gets it

No company is linked to this line. Award records do not carry the program element, so the crosswalk is silent here — why.

Budget figures

FY24 Actuals

$12.5MR-1 TOA · PB2026

FY25 Total

$10.9MR-1 TOA · PB2026

FY26 Request

$9.16MR-1 TOA · PB2026

FY25→26 Change

-$1.76MR-1 TOA · PB2026

Data coverage

FY2026 award data is a partial year — USAspending reports awards on a rolling basis, and this corpus runs through 2026-09-04. why partial FY2026 data? →

Budget trajectory

The program's 3 summary figures for FY24 to FY26, plotted in fiscal-year order: this line ends lower than it starts. The points are the summary cards above, not a separate derivation; the table beside the chart carries each figure with its own citation.

Budget trajectory: one row per fiscal year, carrying the summary figure the sparkline plots. Every figure opens its own citation.
Fiscal year	Amount
FY24	$12.5M
FY25	$10.9M
FY26	$9.16M

All series figures: R-1 TOA · PB2026

Decade view

P-1/R-1 workbook TOA basis, shown compact in $B/$M (the workbook records USD thousands); each figure cites its own President's Budget edition

12 fiscal years of this program as published (FY2015–FY2026): a line through the actuals (filled dots), with the enacted (hollow circles) and request (diamonds) markers each edition reported. Read it for direction, not for precision — this program's actuals line rises across the span. The grid below is the same data as text, one cited figure per cell.

The vertical scale does not start at zero: the baseline sits just below this program’s smallest year, so a low point on this line is not a small amount. Read the shape for direction and the grid below for the figures.

● actuals (line) · ○ enacted · ◇ request — gaps are editions the program is absent from, never interpolated.

Decade series values by fiscal year and President's Budget edition: one row per series (actuals, enacted, request), one column per fiscal year. Every figure opens its own citation.
Series	FY15	FY16	FY17	FY18	FY19	FY20	FY21	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26
Actuals	$1.90M	$9.25M	$11.2M	$18.4M	$5.96M	$10.0M	$5.00M	$9.27M	$9.68M	$12.5M
Enacted		$9.25M	$11.2M	$18.6M	$5.96M	$10.0M	$5.00M	$9.27M	$9.78M	$13.0M	$10.9M
Request			$11.2M	$18.6M	$5.96M	$3.70M	$5.00M	$9.27M	$9.78M	$13.0M	$10.9M	$9.16M

blank = series not published for this year; – = absent from that edition.

Asked vs spent: the PB2020 book requested $3.70M for FY2020; the PB2022 book reported $10.0M as actual total obligation authority — $6.30M above the request. 10.0 − 3.7 = 6.3 USD millions — the compact figures above are rounded for reading.

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 — Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Payloads

The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Sensor Payload program provides the capability to develop, integrate, field, and sustain Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and non-ISR payloads for the USMC Family of UAS. These payloads will alleviate Marine Corps ISR capability gaps caused by changes in mission, threats, and technologies and will increase the versatility of UAS in support of MAGTF mission accomplishment. In support of Force Design initiative, tactical UAS Reconnaissance, Survivability, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) is primarily focused on Marine Littoral Regiments (MLR) and on Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) to enhance their ability to operate within an operating environment characterized by Great Power Competition. In support of the Commandant of the Marine Corps Planning Guidance and Force Design requirements, UAS sensor payloads provide modular, low-cost, aerial sensing technologies to achieve the Maritime Domain Awareness required by MLRs and MEUs in support of the Joint Forces Maritime Component Command (JFMCC). Within the context of Maritime Domain Operations, Marine forces executing Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) require the organic capability to establish and maintain awareness of adversaries and potential adversary activities in communications and navigation degraded or denied environments. UAS Payloads enable sensing of threat indicators across the electromagnetic spectrum, gravimetric, chemical, nuclear, and acoustic spectrums and within the visual and physical domain and radar spectrum, with reduced signature, and minimized risk to personnel. The incorporation of advanced technology enablers such as artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) and precision geolocation provide automated recognition, identification, tracking, advanced networks, advanced communications, and cross-cueing in support of accelerated battlespace awareness and targeting. As an essential element of the kill chain, UAS payloads are critical to the JFMCC targeting process to find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess the effects of lethal and non-lethal fires. Employment of UAS payloads on platforms distributed across the MLRs and MEUs during EABO allows for greater distribution of forces while maintaining persistent awareness, enhances the security of tactical units and personnel moving across the battlespace, and enables the rapid transition between positions necessary for force survivability.

Mission — UAS Payloads

The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Sensor Payload program provides the capability to develop, improve, integrate, field, and sustain Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and non-ISR payloads and enabling technologies for the USMC Family of UAS. These payloads will alleviate Marine Corps ISR capability gaps caused by changes in mission, threats, and technologies and will increase the versatility of UAS in support of Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) mission accomplishment. In support of the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) Planning Guidance and Force Modernization requirements, UAS Sensor Payloads provide modular, low-cost aerial sensing technologies to achieve the Maritime Domain Awareness required by Marine Littoral Regiments (MLRs) and marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) in support of the Joint Forces Maritime Component Command (JFMCC). Within the context of Maritime Domain Operations, Marine forces executing Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) require the organic capability to establish and maintain awareness of adversaries and potential adversary activities in communications and navigation degraded or denied environments. UAS Payloads enable the sensing of threat indicators across the electromagnetic spectrum, gravimetric, chemical, nuclear, and acoustic spectrums and within the visual and physical domain and radar spectrum, with reduced signature, and minimized risk to personnel. The incorporation of advanced technology enablers such as artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) and precision geolocation provides automated recognition, identification, tracking, advanced networks, advanced communications, and cross-cueing in support of accelerated battlespace awareness and targeting. As an essential element of the kill web, UAS payloads are critical to the JFMCC targeting process to find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess the effects of lethal and non-lethal fires. Employment of UAS Sensor Payloads on platforms distributed across the MLRs and MEUs during EABO allows for greater distribution of forces while maintaining persistent awareness, enhances the security of tactical units and personnel moving across the battlespace, and enables the rapid transition between positions necessary for force survivability. The program prototypes, develops, integrates, and transitions strategic and tactical sensors, payloads, and communication capabilities for the areas of Electronic Support (ES), Synthetic Aperture Radar/Moving Target Indicator (SAR/MTI), Multiple Intelligence (Multi-INT), Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), Advanced EO/Infrared (IR)/Multi-spectral (MSI)/Hyperspectral (HSI) sensors, Autonomous operations, Advanced processors, Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) sensors, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), Alt-Nav, Acoustics, Cross Domain Solutions (CDS) for all sensor modalities, interfaces for payloads, including SUAS Reusable Architecture (SRA) and Common Sensor Workstation (CSW), Gravimetric, Communications, and Advanced Networks capabilities. ES - Detect, locate, target, and exploit adversary Signals of Interest (SOI), ability to cue other ISR sensors to specific target geolocations. Multi-INT - Simultaneous area of regard ISR data collection and functionality of sensors operating in widely disparate modalities such as Communications Relay, ES, Radar, and EO/IR. Enables the collection of synchronized data that maximizes the effective employment envelope by collectively decreasing uncertainties, such as geolocation accuracy, simultaneously prosecuting multiple targets of interest and maximizing datalink capability across a varied range of environments and temporal periods. Wide Area Surveillance (WAS)/Wide Area Motion Imagery (WAMI) - Imaging over wide areas (multiple square kilometers, city size area) at high spatial and temporal resolution at substantial stand-off distances using various sensor modalities, with full motion video (FMV) access, picture in picture user defined watch boxes, and ability to cue other ISR sensors to specific target geolocations. Ability to monitor and disseminate processed imagery data and static full field of view or user defined watch box imagery and disseminate to ground-based disadvantaged users. Mission applications include battlefield situational awareness and monitoring, providing the capability to assure access and hold at risk, as well as enabling power projection in environments that are not currently accessible. AI/ML - This effort will place AI/ML edge processing on a small UAS to perform object detection, classification, and identification of targets of interest in the data stream in real time. Edge processing technologies enable minimization of the physical footprint of the UAS system with enhanced mission capabilities and the sharing and merging of data across multiple domains. AI and Automated Processing supports the rapid detection, tracking, and characterization in all ISR data types and provides actionable information for fusion and tracking exploitation systems and processes. Cross Domain Solution (CDS) - Provides ability to transfer unidirectional and bidirectional platform and payload data between unclassified and classified tactical networks. Common Sensor Workstation (CSW) - Ruggedized ground-based UAS payload operator station designed to support multiple payloads and capabilities on low side.

Justification

No accomplishments or planned-program narratives in this line's J-book detail — some exhibits carry figures without per-project prose.

Budget line items(workbook-cited)

P-1/R-1 workbook Total Obligation Authority basis (USD thousands) · PB2026.

Exhibit R-1

Account	Org	Type	Amount
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy	N	FY24 Actuals	$12.5M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy	N	FY25 Enacted	$10.9M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy	N	FY25 Total	$10.9M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy	N	FY26 Disc. Request	$9.16M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy	N	FY26 Total	$9.16M

Budget Details(R-2/P-40 facts)

J-book detail basis (R-2/P-40, USD millions) · PB2026 — a different accounting basis from the P-1/R-1 workbook TOA above; where the two disagree, the reconciliation strip under Budget figures shows both.

Wider than this screen — swipe the table sideways for the remaining fiscal-year columns.

Project	All Prior Years	FY24 Actuals	FY25 Total	FY26 Base	FY26 Request
Program Element	$27.0M	$12.5M	$10.9M	$9.16M	$9.16M
8277: UAS Payloads	$27.0M	$12.5M	$10.9M	$9.16M	$9.16M

Follow the dollar

No follow-the-dollar view — this program's awards haven't been crosswalked at high confidence (flows cover 312 of 1,938 programs). why coverage is partial? →

Awards

No awards are linked to this program element at high or medium confidence — the budget→award crosswalk only asserts links it can defend, and this line has none yet.

Lobbying mentions

Showing 25 of 66 from the Senate LDA disclosure database.

BOEING COMPANYUnmanned|Aerial2026matched 2+ title words

H.R.4213 - Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026. H.R.7147 - Further Additional Continuing…

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Payloads (MIP)

Budget figures

Budget trajectory

Decade view

Program lineage

Description

Mission — Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Payloads source

Mission — UAS Payloads source

Justification

Budget line items(workbook-cited)

Budget Details(R-2/P-40 facts)

Follow the dollar

Awards

Lobbying mentions

Oversight

Program dossier

Primary sources

Budget totals · TOA sources

Detailed budget justification

Mission — Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Payloads

Mission — UAS Payloads