Directed Energy Prototyping

Air ForceRDT&EPartial Reconciliation0604032F

What it is

Directed Energy Prototyping (0604032F) is an Air Force research & development line funded in the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force account. Its J-book detail breaks the line into 1 project.

What changed

No FY25→26 comparison — endpoints unavailable or on different bases.

Who gets it

No award linkage at high confidence.

Budget Figures

FY24 Actuals

$1.25MR-1 TOA · PB2026

FY25 Total

$1.31MR-1 TOA · PB2026

FY26 Request

$0P-40 detail · PB2026

FY25→26 Change

No comparison: endpoints unavailable or on different bases

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

The program's 3 summary figures for FY24 to FY26, plotted in fiscal-year order so the direction of travel is readable at a glance: 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	$1.25MR-1 TOA · PB2026
FY25	$1.31MR-1 TOA · PB2026
FY26	$0P-40 detail · 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

8 fiscal years of this program as published (FY2018–FY2025): 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	FY18	FY19	FY20	FY21	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Actuals	$0	$48.3M	$42.4M	$19.0M	$15.5M	$4.20M	$1.25M
Enacted	–	$50.0M	$44.0M	$19.4M	$15.8M	$4.27M	$1.25M	$1.31M
Request	–	–	$10.0M	$21.0M	$10.8M	$4.27M	$1.25M	$3.71M

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

Asked vs spent: the PB2020 book requested $10.0M for FY2020; the PB2022 book reported $42.4M as actual total obligation authority — $32.4M above the request. 42.4 − 10.0 = 32.4 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 — DE Prototyping

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Architecture and Integration Directorate Directed Energy Prototyping Program develops, acquires and evaluates prototype high energy laser, high power microwave and/or other electromagnetic radiation or particle beam technologies as a future integral component of Air Force missions. The Directed Energy Prototyping Program bridges the gap between lab based technology demonstration under a controlled environment, and demonstration of a system in realistic environments with the intent of establishing successful acquisition, and operation or operational capability implementation. This prototyping effort enables the ability to integrate the directed energy prototype systems with other operational systems required for the mission (e.g. radar, command and control, etc.), conduct test and evaluation activities, and mature emerging directed energy technology systems based on prototyping activities to enable rapid fielding to the warfighter. The Directed Energy Prototyping Program allows acquisition program managers (capability developers) and warfighters (capability recipients and end users) to prototype, integrate, evaluate, and demonstrate candidate weapon technologies and assess them in an operational environment with the intent of iteratively maturing directed energy technologies to a production representative design. This program element may include necessary civilian pay expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver weapon system capability. The use of such program's funds would be in addition to the civilian pay expenses budgeted in program element 0605827F, 0605828F, 0605829F, 0605831F, 0605832F, 0605833F, 0605898F, 0606398F. In Prior Year 2023, 1.046M was expended for civilian pay expenses in this program element, and in CY 2024 1.023M is forecasted for civilian pay expenses in this program element. This effort is in Budget Activity 4, Advanced Component Development and Prototypes (ACD&P), because efforts are necessary to evaluate integrated technologies, representative modes or prototype systems in a high fidelity and realistic operating environment.

Justification

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (1)

Directed Energy Capabilities

Prototypes and evaluates Directed energy weapon technologies for Airbase Defense against unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles, Precision Strike against electronic and conventional targets and Aircraft Defense against incoming threats.

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	$1.25M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force	F	FY25 Enacted	$1.31M
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force	F	FY25 Total	$1.31M

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	$1.25M	$1.31M	$0	$0
640200: DE Prototyping	$0	$1.25M	$1.31M	$0	$0

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

18 mentions from the Senate LDA disclosure database.

BAE SYSTEMS INCDirected|Energy2026matched 2+ title words

National Defense Authorization Act, 2027 (HR XXXX/S XXXX); provisions regarding R&D - Navy, US Marine Corps, Air…