Printed from https://fiscalreceipts.com/program/0601110D8Z/ — data as of August 12, 2026. Every figure is citation-backed; see the page online for per-number provenance.
Basic Research Initiatives
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? →
| Fiscal year | Amount |
|---|---|
| FY24 | $108.1M |
| FY25 | $87.1M |
| FY26 | $82.3M |
All series figures: R-1 TOA · PB2026
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.
| Series | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actuals | $41.1M | $70.3M | $66.8M | $39.1M | $55.2M | $68.5M | $73.0M | $74.1M | $90.5M | $108.1M | ||
| Enacted | $71.9M | $36.7M | $40.6M | $56.6M | $70.9M | $75.5M | $76.7M | $93.7M | $71.8M | $87.1M | ||
| Request | $36.7M | $40.6M | $42.7M | $48.9M | $35.6M | $39.8M | $62.4M | $71.8M | $77.1M | $82.3M |
blank = series not published for this year; – = absent from that edition.
Asked vs spent: the PB2021 book requested $35.6M for FY2021; the PB2023 book reported $73.0M as actual total obligation authority — $37.4M above the request. 73.0 − 35.6 = 37.4 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 — Basic Research Initiatives
Basic research is a process of exploration and discovery, yielding disruptive, non-incremental advances that can improve or radically change military capabilities, strategy, and operations, towards realizing overwhelming technology advantage against competitors. It is a mission-oriented activity that provides the Department of Defense (DoD) with a deep and broad awareness of research areas to explore and invest in. These areas span a wide range of fundamental physical sciences (e.g., chemistry, biology, materials, mathematics, computer science, etc.) as well as fundamental research in engineering sciences that can catalyze the emergence of new technologies at scale (e.g., new materials or information systems). Basic research generates the critical technical knowledge that enables the ideation, design and realization of future DoD capabilities, including the exploration of new concepts of warfare. Basic research also sustains the scientific and engineering communities and creates new generations of a talented workforce that can support the DoD for the next decades. The Basic Research Initiatives Program includes programs and pilots designed to accomplish these objectives.
Mission — Basic Research Initiatives
The Basic Research Initiatives Project supports oversight of basic research throughout the Department, as well as initiatives and pilot programs, in order to create conditions for defense basic research investments to produce high-payoff, transformative scientific breakthroughs for the Department. The project supports the five Basic Research Office (BRO) strategic goals: (1) support the technology priorities set by the Department of Defense (OSD); (2) coordinate and conduct oversight of DoD-wide basic research programs; (3) improve the science and engineering workforce via tailored programs and public outreach; (4) enhance university-industry and university-government collaboration; and (5) engage with the academic research community and international partners. This Project includes Strategic Support for Basic Research (SSBR), which sustains the operations of the BRO and creates conditions for research policies and initiatives to be formulated and instantiated. It also includes several pilot programs and initiatives, including the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR), international research collaboration, and cross-agency joint programs.
Mission — Minerva Research Initiative
The Minerva Research Initiative supported social science research aimed at improving our basic understanding of security, broadly defined. All supported projects were university-based and unclassified. The goal was to improve DoD’s basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the U.S.
Mission — Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship
The Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) program supports world-class researchers in scientific areas of critical importance to the DoD and ensures the cultivation of exceptional talent. Fellows’ research spans a broad set of emerging scientific areas with transformative potential, including quantum information science, novel engineered materials, cognitive neuroscience and human-machine interfaces, engineering biology, applied and computational mathematics, networks, machine learning and artificial intelligence, manufacturing science, and others. The prestigious research program delivers the most innovative and transformational scientific ideas of relevance to the DoD, from the top scientists in the Nation. The program fosters close connections between academia and the defense science and engineering (S&E) enterprise, a primary goal of Strategic Support for Basic Research (SSBR) efforts. Fellows provide the Department the deep scientific expertise from today’s leading research universities and collaborate with defense scientists and engineers. This program actively engages and coordinates basic research across the Department. The project includes support for the Laboratory-University Collaboration Initiative (LUCI) program, which is designed to team scientists in the DoD laboratories with top academic researchers from the programs sponsored or overseen by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (in particular, the VBFF fellows), in order to collaboratively perform research on a topic of their choice and explore early adoption of the scientific discoveries for military applications, platforms and systems, operations, and strategic roadmaps. Three-year grants allow a deep exchange of ideas between academic and DoD research communities, bring the most recent scientific breakthroughs closer to DoD relevance, and greatly expand the skills and knowledge of the S&E workforce within the laboratories. The project also supports the Bush Fellows Research Study Team (BRFST) program, designed to allow selected leaders in the academic research community to engage with the DoD at high levels, including briefings from MAJCOMs and site visits to military installations. This program brings deeper understanding of military operations and strategic vision to selected US academic researchers, in order to enhance the creation of out-of-the-box, innovative solutions and the growth of intellectual talent attuned to DoD mission needs. Extension of this program will enhance relevance of university-based research to the military mission.
Justification
Accomplishments & Planned Programs (5)
Strategic Support for Basic Research (SSBR)
SSBR is the core of the Basic Research Initiatives Project. It supports the operations of the Basic Research Office in the oversight of basic research, implementation of policies, and other activities to create and optimize the necessary conditions for defense basic research investments to produce high-payoff, transformative scientific breakthroughs for the Department. It provides essential support to accomplish the priorities of the BRO.
Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR)
The DEPSCoR objectives are to enhance the participation in the DoD-funded scientific research activities, by institutions of higher education (IHE) from States and Territories that are under-represented in that DoD research ecosystem. The DEPSCoR program aims to support IHEs in eligible States/Territories to: 1) develop, plan, and execute competitively-based science and engineering (S&E) research that is relevant to the DoD mission; 2) to increase the number of university researchers in eligible States/Territories capable of performing this research; 3) increase the probability of long-term growth in S&E capability in the eligible States/Territories. The current DEPSCoR program has three components: 1) a Research Collaboration competition for individual researcher development; 2) a Capacity Building DEPSCoR competition for long-term growth; 3) outreach events to explain the program and encourage
Minerva Research Initiative (MRI)
The Minerva Research Initiative included three primary components: (1) a university-based social science basic research grant program, funded in partnership with Air Force, Army, and Navy University Research Initiatives; (2) the Defense Education and Civilian University Research (DECUR) Partnership program for professional military education (PME) institutions; (3) a collaboration with the Congressionally-established USIP to award research support to advanced graduate students and early career scholars working on security and peace. Pursuant leadership guidance, the program was terminated for no longer effectuating agency priorities as found in 2 CFR 200.340(a)(4) as incorporated into the DoD Research and Development General Terms and Conditions.
Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) Program
The Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) Program ensures the DoD has a research portfolio that supports highly creative, innovative, and productive university researchers. The objectives of the program are to: (1) support scientific research that may lead to extraordinary outcomes of relevance to the DoD; (2) educate and train students and post-doctoral researchers for the defense and national security workforce; (3) foster long-term relationships between university researchers and the Department; (4) familiarize select university researchers and their students with DoD's current and future challenges through research and engagement with DoD-employed scientists; and (5) increase the number of exceptionally talented technical experts contributing to the DoD's mission. The Laboratory-University Collaboration Initiative (LUCI) program incentivizes DoD laboratory researchers to explore fundamentally new areas of research by leveraging the ground-breaking scientific discoveries achieved by the best DoD academic research programs: the VBFF and the Multi-disciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI). Both provide the DoD laboratory scientists with radially new ideas, knowledge and expertise, and the collaboration ensures: a) transfer of such ideas and knowledge to the DoD eco-system; b) exploration of potential transition to the DoD mission; c) training and recruitment of DoD S&T workforce. Typical execution of the VBFF and LUCI programs include the following. Support of 46 Vannevar Bush Fellows and collaborative research efforts with 35 Laboratory-University Collaboration Initiative (LUCI) Fellows from DoD Service Laboratories. Regular review and update of research topic areas with input from DoD S&T community. Executing a competition to select new classes of Vannevar Bush and LUCI Fellows. Organizing and executing the Vannevar Bush annual meeting, along with science communication training. Organizing and conducting site visits to establish communication with new Vannevar Bush Fellows and explain the program objectives and opportunities. Conducting review of LUCI projects in DoD laboratories and evaluating the scientific progress and impacts.
Research Grant Programs
VBFF program and expand International Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative/Bilateral Academic Research Initiative (MURI/BARI) to leverage expertise and resources from closely allied nations.
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, Defense-Wide | OSD | FY24 Actuals | $108.1M |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide | OSD | FY25 Enacted | $87.1M |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide | OSD | FY25 Total | $87.1M |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide | OSD | FY26 Disc. Request | $82.3M |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide | OSD | FY26 Total | $82.3M |
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 | $90.5M | $108.1M | $87.1M | $82.3M | $82.3M |
| 010: Basic Research Initiatives | $42.9M | $48.4M | $20.4M | $16.6M | $16.6M |
| 016: Minerva Research Initiative | $17.1M | $15.6M | $17.1M | $17.2M | $17.2M |
| 060: Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship | $30.4M | $44.1M | $49.7M | $48.5M | $48.5M |
No follow-the-dollar view — this program's awards haven't been crosswalked at high confidence (flows cover 17 of 1,741 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.
Oversight
Department-level designation (not specific to this program)
GAO lists 5 high-risk areas for DOD as a whole. That designation covers the department, not Basic Research Initiatives — no program-specific GAO finding for this line is in the ingested data. See the DOD oversight record.
No research dossier for this program — dossiers cover 50 of 1,741 programs, the largest fully J-book-detailed lines by FY2026 requested dollars. why no dossier here? →