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Fiscal Receipts

C3I Applied Cyber

ARDT&EFully Reconciled0602213A
What it is
C3I Applied Cyber — a research & development program run by Army.
What changed
-$23.9M FY25→26
Who gets it
No award linkage at high confidence.

Budget Figures

FY24 Actuals
$41.3M
FY25 Total
$28.7M
FY26 Request
$4.72M
FY25→26 Change
-$23.9M

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? →

Budget Trajectory
FY24: $20.7MFY25: $28.7MFY26: $4.72MFY24FY25FY26
FY24
$20.7M
FY25
$28.7M
FY26
$4.72M
Decade view — each figure cites its own President's Budget edition
FY2018 actuals — PB2020 editionFY2019 actuals — PB2021 editionFY2020 actuals — PB2022 editionFY2021 actuals — PB2023 editionFY2022 actuals — PB2024 editionFY2023 actuals — PB2025 editionFY2024 actuals — PB2026 editionFY2019 enacted — PB2020 editionFY2020 enacted — PB2021 editionFY2021 enacted — PB2022 editionFY2022 enacted — PB2023 editionFY2023 enacted — PB2024 editionFY2024 enacted — PB2025 editionFY2025 enacted — PB2026 editionFY2020 request — PB2020 editionFY2021 request — PB2021 editionFY2022 request — PB2022 editionFY2023 request — PB2023 editionFY2024 request — PB2024 editionFY2025 request — PB2025 editionFY2026 request — PB2026 editionFY18FY26

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

SeriesFY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26
Actuals$0$0$17.4M$18.8M$12.1M$13.6M$20.7M
Enacted$0$18.9M$18.8M$12.1M$13.6M$22.7M$28.7M
Request$18.9M$18.8M$12.1M$13.6M$22.7M$28.7M$4.72M

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

Asked vs spent: the PB2024 book requested $22.7M for FY2024; the PB2026 book reports $20.7M actually spent — $2.05M below 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 Autonomous Cyber Technology

This Project investigates and applies robust cyber security techniques and applications to advanced communications and networking devices, software, algorithms and protocols utilized within wireless tactical networks to protect against nation state level cyber effects and maintain Warfighter confidence in network information, resources, identities and mission partners by hardening the blue force attack surface. Work in this Project complements Program Element (PE) 0603457A (C3I Cyber Advanced Development) / Project 6CY (Autonomous Cyber Advanced Technology). The cited work is consistent with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering priority focus areas and the Army modernization strategy. Work in this Project is performed by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and Command, Control, Computer, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

Mission Network Access and Effects Technology

This Project investigates computer assisted/automated methodologies to expedite technology development for Offensive Cyber Operations (OCO)/Radio Frequency (RF) Enabled operations. This includes identification of non-traditional access and effect vectors across diverse and evolving adversary targets of interest to enable the commander freedom of maneuver and non-kinetic firing options. This Project will expedite OCO/RF enabled operational developers, planners and operators time to readiness when navigating the complexity of near-peer engagements. This Project investigates the application of machine learning technologies to assist in capability development and mission execution processes with respect to Offensive Cyber Operations (OCO)/Radio Frequency (RF) Enabled capabilities. Work in this Project complements Program Element (PE) 0603457A (C3I Cyber Advanced Development) / Project 9CY (Network Access and Effects Advanced Technology). The cited work is consistent with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering priority focus areas and the Army modernization strategy. Work in this Project is performed by Command, Control, Computer, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

Mission C3I Applied Cyber

This Program element (PE) investigates, designs, and develops cyber architectures, software, tools, and techniques to enable Cyber Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) to counter adversary communications and harden the Army's tactical communications networks against cyber attacks. For offensive cyber effort against adversary communications, efforts investigate capabilities to identify and capture data traversing targeted networks for detection, identification, exploitation, direction finding, geolocation, and denial of service. Defensive cyber efforts in this PE focus on hardening the Army's tactical network by investigating and applying robust cyber security technologies and techniques to advance software, algorithms and protocols utilized within tactical networks, to protect against nation state level cyber-attacks and maintain Warfighter confidence in network information by hardening the blue force attack surface. The cited research is consistent with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering priority focus areas and the Army modernization priorities.

Mission Information Trust Technology

This Project develops defensive cyber technology to ensure that data traversing the network remains verified and has not been modified through unauthorized means. Project enhances system access without affecting personnel authentication processes, enhances awareness of user actions and intent within the network, and maintains information provenance from originator to consumer. It will also integrate zero trust principles where access to resources is granted based on continuous risk assessments. Work in this Project complements Program Element (PE) 0603457A (C3I Cyber Advanced Development) / Project 8CY (Information Trust Advanced Technology). The cited work is consistent with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering priority focus areas and the Army modernization strategy. Work in this Project is performed by Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

Mission Information Trust Technology

This Project develops defensive cyber technology to ensure that data traversing the network remains verified and has not been modified through unauthorized means. Project enhances system access without affecting personnel authentication processes, enhances awareness of user actions and intent within the network, and maintains information provenance from originator to consumer. It will also integrate zero trust principles where access to resources is granted based on continuous risk assessments. Work in this Project complements Program Element (PE) 0603457A (C3I Cyber Advanced Development) / Project 8CY (Information Trust Advanced Technology). The cited work is consistent with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering priority focus areas and the Army modernization strategy. Work in this Project is performed by Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

Mission C3I Applied Cyber

This Program element (PE) investigates, designs, and develops cyber architectures, software, tools, and techniques to enable Cyber Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) to counter adversary communications and harden the Army's tactical communications networks against cyber attacks. For offensive cyber effort against adversary communications, efforts investigate capabilities to identify and capture data traversing targeted networks for detection, identification, exploitation, direction finding, geolocation, and denial of service. Defensive cyber efforts in this PE focus on hardening the Army's tactical network by investigating and applying robust cyber security technologies and techniques to advance software, algorithms and protocols utilized within tactical networks, to protect against nation state level cyber-attacks and maintain Warfighter confidence in network information by hardening the blue force attack surface. The cited research is consistent with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering priority focus areas and the Army modernization priorities.

Mission Autonomous Cyber Technology

This Project investigates and applies robust cyber security techniques and applications to advanced communications and networking devices, software, algorithms and protocols utilized within wireless tactical networks to protect against nation state level cyber effects and maintain Warfighter confidence in network information, resources, identities and mission partners by hardening the blue force attack surface. Work in this Project complements Program Element (PE) 0603457A (C3I Cyber Advanced Development) / Project 6CY (Autonomous Cyber Advanced Technology). The cited work is consistent with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering priority focus areas and the Army modernization strategy. Work in this Project is performed by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and Command, Control, Computer, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

Mission Network Access and Effects Technology

This Project investigates computer assisted/automated methodologies to expedite technology development for Offensive Cyber Operations (OCO)/Radio Frequency (RF) Enabled operations. This includes identification of non-traditional access and effect vectors across diverse and evolving adversary targets of interest to enable the commander freedom of maneuver and non-kinetic firing options. This Project will expedite OCO/RF enabled operational developers, planners and operators time to readiness when navigating the complexity of near-peer engagements. This Project investigates the application of machine learning technologies to assist in capability development and mission execution processes with respect to Offensive Cyber Operations (OCO)/Radio Frequency (RF) Enabled capabilities. Work in this Project complements Program Element (PE) 0603457A (C3I Cyber Advanced Development) / Project 9CY (Network Access and Effects Advanced Technology). The cited work is consistent with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering priority focus areas and the Army modernization strategy. Work in this Project is performed by Command, Control, Computer, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

Justification

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (10)

Proactive Cyber Defense

This effort designs and characterizes software for the protection of information and networks in wireless tactical environments. The goal is to develop software algorithms that detect and defeat malicious activities of adversaries in bandwidth and highly resource constrained tactical networks and maintain agile, adaptive cyber maneuver. This research provides automated active defense (e.g., machine learning, anomaly detection, and decision aids) and adversarial resilient techniques to maintain cyber superiority (e.g., improved attack detection, advanced network traffic analysis, and predictive decision aids) against a large attack surface at the edge.

Tactical Zero Trust

Investigate concepts of Zero Trust that can be adapted to tactical network architectures. Extend concepts developed under current Dynamic Access Control - Tactical (DAC-T) to include non-person entities (NPE) (e.g., systems, applications, devices, robotic process automation (RPA) & services). Create an efficient data-in-use service to limit decryption and exfiltration of high value information. Include graceful degradation of capability for Person/NPE access based on Indicators of Compromise (IoC). Investigate open standard methods to create playbooks while assuring safe parallel execution of such playbooks. Effort will mature a capability that performs adversarial assessments on machine learning models to make them more robust to adversarial manipulation.

Network Exploitation Research and Development (NERD) Technology

This effort investigates computer assisted/automated methodologies and tools to reduce the timelines associated with the exploitation of emerging and validated targets of interest, the development of courses of action, and the execution of offensive attack capabilities in the cyber and radio frequency domains at the pace of a near-peer engagement on a highly complex battlefield of ever evolving cyberspace threats.

Predictive Intelligent Networking (PIN)

Investigate and develop various design patterns of Network Micro-segmentation given constraint of tactical network, conduct various experiments to determine the lowest viable level of Micro-segmentation for the tactical network, as there are different levels of fidelity of Micro-segmentation, and provide an implementation in support of advanced zero trust concepts. This project researches methods to enable the tactical network to autonomously identify, learn, predict, and react to changes in network operating conditions and network threats to ensure end-to-end network resiliency against adversarial AI-driven electronic attacks (EA), electronic warfare (EW), and cyberattacks.

PKI-Modernization & Dynamic Access Control for Tactical (DAC-T) Technology

This effort will investigate cryptographic algorithms that address Program Manager (PM) Mission Command gap of native ability to support PKI digital signature and Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) certificate validation for the Variable Message Format (VMF) standard MIL-STD-2045-47001D in Disconnected, Interrupted, and Low-bandwidth (DIL) Networks. Furthermore, this effort will investigate methods to enhance, speed up and automate account provisioning and access for people and Non-Person entities (NPE) (e.g. sensors, devices, web services, etc.). This will significantly reduce the workload/ burden for the soldier and improve the networks security posture by enforcing least privilege & just-in-time network access.

Tactical Zero Trust

Investigate concepts of Zero Trust that can be adapted to tactical network architectures. Extend concepts developed under current Dynamic Access Control - Tactical (DAC-T) to include non-person entities (NPE) (e.g., systems, applications, devices, robotic process automation (RPA) & services). Create an efficient data-in-use service to limit decryption and exfiltration of high value information. Include graceful degradation of capability for Person/NPE access based on Indicators of Compromise (IoC). Investigate open standard methods to create playbooks while assuring safe parallel execution of such playbooks. Effort will mature a capability that performs adversarial assessments on machine learning models to make them more robust to adversarial manipulation.

PKI-Modernization & Dynamic Access Control for Tactical (DAC-T) Technology

This effort will investigate cryptographic algorithms that address Program Manager (PM) Mission Command gap of native ability to support PKI digital signature and Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) certificate validation for the Variable Message Format (VMF) standard MIL-STD-2045-47001D in Disconnected, Interrupted, and Low-bandwidth (DIL) Networks. Furthermore, this effort will investigate methods to enhance, speed up and automate account provisioning and access for people and Non-Person entities (NPE) (e.g. sensors, devices, web services, etc.). This will significantly reduce the workload/ burden for the soldier and improve the networks security posture by enforcing least privilege & just-in-time network access.

Network Exploitation Research and Development (NERD) Technology

This effort investigates computer assisted/automated methodologies and tools to reduce the timelines associated with the exploitation of emerging and validated targets of interest, the development of courses of action, and the execution of offensive attack capabilities in the cyber and radio frequency domains at the pace of a near-peer engagement on a highly complex battlefield of ever evolving cyberspace threats.

Proactive Cyber Defense

This effort designs and characterizes software for the protection of information and networks in wireless tactical environments. The goal is to develop software algorithms that detect and defeat malicious activities of adversaries in bandwidth and highly resource constrained tactical networks and maintain agile, adaptive cyber maneuver. This research provides automated active defense (e.g., machine learning, anomaly detection, and decision aids) and adversarial resilient techniques to maintain cyber superiority (e.g., improved attack detection, advanced network traffic analysis, and predictive decision aids) against a large attack surface at the edge.

Predictive Intelligent Networking (PIN)

Investigate and develop various design patterns of Network Micro-segmentation given constraint of tactical network, conduct various experiments to determine the lowest viable level of Micro-segmentation for the tactical network, as there are different levels of fidelity of Micro-segmentation, and provide an implementation in support of advanced zero trust concepts. This project researches methods to enable the tactical network to autonomously identify, learn, predict, and react to changes in network operating conditions and network threats to ensure end-to-end network resiliency against adversarial AI-driven electronic attacks (EA), electronic warfare (EW), and cyberattacks.

Budget Line Items(workbook-cited)

Exhibit R-1

AccountOrgTypeAmount
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY24 Actuals$20.7M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY25 Enacted$28.7M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY25 Total$28.7M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY26 Disc. Request$4.72M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY26 Total$4.72M

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

ProjectFY24 ActualsFY25 TotalFY26 BaseFY26 Request
Program Element$20.7M$28.7M$4.72M$4.72M
2CY: Information Trust Technology$6.03M$7.84M$4.72M$4.72M
CY6: Autonomous Cyber Technology$6.10M$8.27M
3CY: Network Access and Effects Technology$8.54M$12.6M

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? →