Printed from https://fiscalreceipts.com/program/0602022F/ — built September 26, 2026. Every figure is citation-backed; see the page online for per-number provenance.
University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) - Tactical Autonomy
Budget figures
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
| Fiscal year | Amount |
|---|---|
| FY24 | $6.18M |
| FY25 | $8.22M |
| FY26 | $6.29M |
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
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 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actuals | $0 | – | $6.18M | ||
| Enacted | – | $0 | $8.02M | $8.22M | |
| Request | – | – | $8.02M | $8.22M | $6.29M |
blank = series not published for this year; – = absent from that edition.
Asked vs spent: the PB2024 book requested $8.02M for FY2024; the PB2026 book reported $6.18M as actual total obligation authority — $1.84M below the request. 6.2 − 8.0 = -1.8 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 — HBCU University Affiliated Research Center (UARC)
The Tactical Autonomy University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) supports a consortium performing innovative research to advance the state of the art as well as cultivate awareness of and expertise in the field of tactical autonomy. Research topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: Trust in Mission Autonomy, Collaboration between Platforms, and Human Machine Teaming. Funds in this program element are planned to investigate, design, develop, digitize, and/or analyze specified technology advancements in air, space, ground, sea, and/or cyber domains. This research will address factors that have complicated the deployment and adoption of autonomous technologies such as trust in mission autonomy, collaboration between platforms, and human-machine teaming. Research will also seek to integrate autonomous technologies with advanced battle management systems. This research initiative will support the Department of Defense Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Strategic Plan and the Air and Space STEM Outreach Strategic Plan by establishing long-term core research expertise in tactical autonomy that will leverage scientific and engineering capabilities among the consortium of contributing universities. Tactical autonomy will be a critical technology in prolonged great power conflict because the development of autonomous systems is a realistic approach to counter an adversary approaching parity in conventional strength in theatre, and tactical autonomy will enable warfighting capability in an environment where command and control may be disrupted by cyber or electronic warfare effects. Research will produce creative solutions to optimize the capabilities of reliable data-driven autonomous platforms capable of operating in environments well suited to uncrewed systems, such as persistent defensive or force protection-related missions, or in high-risk environments such as heavy anti-access or Nuclear, Chemical, Biological (NBC) affected settings. One of the foremost advantages of the United States in technological competition is its advanced university-based scientific research institutions. This research initiative will strengthen the universities' scientific and engineering capabilities, advance the early career development of STEM students, leverage the research contributions of university faculty, and expand the pipeline of STEM graduates with national security experience for the government and the private-sector defense industrial base. This program is in Budget Activity 2, Applied Research because this budget activity includes studies, investigations, and non-system specific technology efforts directed toward general military needs with a view toward developing and evaluating the feasibility and practicality of proposed solutions and determining their parameters.
Justification
Accomplishments & Planned Programs (1)
University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) For Tactical Autonomy
Development of technologies and tools to enable autonomous systems to act with delegated and bounded authority of humans in support of tactical, short-term actions, associated with longer-term strategic visions. Examples of capability objectives are: Enhancing multi-domain situational awareness, faster data processing and analysis, enhancing force protection, supporting cyber defense, augmenting logistics operations, and automating maneuverability and mobility functions.
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, Air Force | F | FY24 Actuals | $6.18M |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force | F | FY25 Enacted | $8.22M |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force | F | FY25 Total | $8.22M |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force | F | FY26 Disc. Request | $6.29M |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force | F | FY26 Total | $6.29M |
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 | $0 | $6.18M | $8.22M | $6.29M | $6.29M |
| 622408: HBCU University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) | $0 | $6.18M | $8.22M | $6.29M | $6.29M |
Follow the dollar
No follow-the-dollar view — none of this program's high-confidence awards records a positive obligation at any place of performance (flows cover 312 of 1,938 programs). why coverage is partial? →
Related awards
Award linkage is shown for 32 of 200 profiled companies — high- and medium-confidence USAspending matches, each row labeled; medium is the weaker evidence. why partial award coverage? →
| Recipient | PIID | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| HOWARD UNIVERSITY | FA955023D0001 | high |
Contractor concentration
No concentration index is published for this line. This line's high-confidence links do not clear the floor for a published concentration index — at least 3 awards across 2 contractor families holding positive obligations, with positive net linked dollars. An index below that floor is a fact about the sample, not about the market. Whatever further links this line carries are medium-confidence, and what each medium evidence path does and does not establish is set out in the methodology. Both bases are in the downloadable warehouse.
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 University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) - Tactical Autonomy. No program-specific GAO finding for this line is in the ingested data. See the DOD oversight record.
Program dossier
No research dossier for this program — dossiers cover 50 of 1,938 programs, the largest fully J-book-detailed lines by FY2026 requested dollars. why no dossier here? →
Primary sources
Open any budget figure for its exact receipt. Verified line items lead with the highlighted government PDF; original spreadsheets download with their budget edition and exhibit in the filename.
Budget totals · TOA sources
FY2026 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J504
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2026_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2024 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J478
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2024_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2025 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · K486
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2025_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
Detailed budget justification
The related TOA spreadsheets above use a different accounting basis from R-2/P-40 detail. Their amounts are not assumed to match these detailed sources.
FY2026 Air Force Research and Development Test and Evaluation, Vol. I · www.saffm.hq.af.mil
PDF page 109