- The Army knows future adversaries will have advanced surface-to-air missiles with next-generation targeting capabilities.
- That’s why it’s proposing a massive increase in funding for aircraft survivability in FY 2027.
- Get exclusive spending insights from Lt. Gen. Jeth Ray, deputy chief of staff, G-6, during his keynote at the 2026 Army Summit on June 18!
The Army knows future adversaries will have advanced surface-to-air missiles with next-generation targeting capabilities. That’s why it’s proposing a massive increase in funding for aircraft survivability development in fiscal year 2027.
The Army, in its FY 2027 budget, requested $107 million for this essential capability. If approved by Congress, this would represent a 76 percent boost from the $61 million provided in FY 2026.
The strategy for Army for aircraft survivability is three-pronged, according to Army Aviation Magazine:
- Protect itself from avoidable threats, through tactics and situational awareness
- Defeat the threats that cannot be avoided, like countermeasures
- Survive the threats that cannot be defeated, through hardening, redundancy, or repairability
The Army’s aircraft survivability budget request includes investments in critical technologies like advanced radio frequency radars and countermeasures. Let’s dive into our biggest insights in the Army’s aircraft survivability budget request.
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What Are the Key Insights In the Army’s Aircraft Survivability Budget Request?
1. Significant Rampup for Improved Threat Detection System
The Improved Threat Detection System, or ITDS, will be Army aviation’s premier threat warning system. It will protect aircraft in the full range of military operations from border security to large scale combat operations. Demonstrating its commitment to advancing the ITDS, the Army requested $78 million, up 151 percent from the $31 million enacted in FY 2026.
The ITDS offers superior aircraft protection against air defense threat systems. It leverages a multi-function sensor and modular open systems architecture, aka MOSA, for advanced situational awareness. It will detect, classify, declare and cue countermeasures against unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, anti-tank guided missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and a wide variety of munitions.
The Army requested the boost for ITDS funding because of the development engineering needed to fully mature the system for production, multiplatform aircraft integration, qualification testing and other requirements. The Army anticipates spending $184 million on the ITDS through FY 2031.
Northrop Grumman in July 2025 was approved to continue into Phase 2 of another transaction agreement for the ITDS. Phase 2 will focus on the initial delivery of ITDS prototypes.
2. Big Increase for Aircraft Survivability Equipment Development
The Army has an urgent need to quickly improve radio frequency aircraft survivability equipment. Thus, it is budgeting $23 million for Phase 2 Radio Frequency Countermeasure, a modernized radio warning receiver, in FY 2027. This would be a 185 percent increase from FY 2026.
This request would fund AN/APR-39E(V)2 hardware and software system development, UH-60 Black Hawk A-kit non-recurring engineering, and system engineering and program management. The Army is requesting these extra funds for initial integration efforts on the UH-60. It is also for demonstrating threat data offboarding to integrate the AN/APR-39E(V)2 as part of Next-Generation Command and Control, or NGC2.
While the Army plans to field the AN/APR-39E(V)2 on the AH-64E Apache, CH-47F Chinook and the UH-60M Black Hawk, the service is prioritizing initial fielding on the AH-64E at the rate of one battalion per year. Northrop Grumman received a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract in FY 2023 and has received multiple delivery orders. The Army is currently negotiating the final three years of pricing under this award.
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- Brig. Gen. Anthony Gibbs, capability program executive for mission autonomy
- Brig. Gen. Shane Taylor, capability program executive for command, control, communications and network, or C3N
3. Investment in Common Missile Warning System
The Army is continuing investment in the Common Missile Warning System, or CMWS, which protects aircraft and aircrews against proliferated infrared-guided missile threats. The service is budgeting $5 million for CMWS in FY 2027.
CMWS is the legacy aircraft missile warning system that cues both flare and laser-based countermeasures to defeat incoming infrared-seeking missiles. The $5 million requested for FY 2027 will fund future sensor algorithm analysis, threat and vulnerability analysis, software concurrency, systems engineering and program management and future missile warning modernization initiatives.
