Foreign Materiel Acquisition and Exploitation

Foreign Materiel Acquisition and Exploitation (FMA&E), Program Element (PE) 0605117F, supports the military services' and defense agencies' Foreign Material Program (FMP) activities. It appears in the Air Force's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation under Budget Activity 7, Operational Systems Development. That category covers development to upgrade systems already fielded or approved for full-rate production, with production funding anticipated in the current or a subsequent fiscal year. FMA&E is identified as a Military Intelligence Program (MIP); its substantive activities and acquisition strategy are described in classified budget material.

The program is presented as a single project, 675897, also named Foreign Materiel Acquisition and Exploitation. Its schedule distinguishes the acquisition of foreign material from its exploitation, with opportunities in each area reviewed separately throughout the year. The project supports an annual FMP plan that is approved, published, executed, and updated as required. Services and defense agencies submit requirements and funding requests for that planning process, after which the requests are validated and prioritized.

The funding history requires careful distinction between the displayed Air Force budget line and the location of the underlying activity. The budget justification states that funding for the activity in this PE was transferred to an alternate PE beginning in FY 2026 and that FMA&E activity will resume there. The Air Force line shows no FY 2026 funding, while the FY 2027 President's Budget includes a base request in project 675897 and no overseas contingency operations request. The justification directs readers to classified documents for further details about the change and the FY 2027 plans.

The FY 2027 request includes a product-development cost category whose work, performing activities, and contracting details are classified. The cost analysis schedules its FY 2027 award for December 2026 and describes the contract methods and performers only as various or to be determined. A separate support category covers SAF/CDM salary and travel, with an award scheduled for October 2026 and a performing activity identified as SAF/CDMA in Fairfax, Virginia. The program element may also fund necessary civilian pay to manage, execute, and deliver weapon-system capability, in addition to civilian pay budgeted in specified other program elements.

The FY 2027 FMP planning cycle begins before that fiscal year: services and agencies are scheduled to submit requirements and funding requests in the third and fourth quarters of FY 2026. Validation and prioritization, followed by approval and publication of the FY 2027 plan, are scheduled for the fourth quarter of FY 2026. During all four quarters of FY 2027, the plan is scheduled to be executed and updated as required. Additional acquisition opportunities and additional exploitation opportunities are each reviewed quarterly, with execution reprioritized in response.

The annual cycle also prepares the next year's work. FY 2028 requirements and funding requests are scheduled for submission in the third and fourth quarters of FY 2027, with validation, prioritization, and plan approval in the fourth quarter. The published schedule repeats this sequence through FY 2031: each fiscal year has plan execution and quarterly reviews of both acquisition and exploitation opportunities. Out-of-cycle, ad hoc reviews may also be held when required, allowing the process to address opportunities outside the regular quarterly reviews.

Other budget context includes an operations and maintenance funding line associated with the activity, alongside the RDT&E presentation. The change summary records a FY 2025 congressional addition and a smaller reprogramming reduction; it also cites a reduction implementing the President's Department of Government Efficiency Cost Efficiency Initiative for contract services. Details of the FY 2027 accomplishments, planned work, and acquisition strategy remain in the classified Defense-Wide Justification Book, rather than in the public description. The public schedule nevertheless establishes the continuing operational commitments to collect agency requirements, set priorities, execute the FMP plan, and reassess foreign-material opportunities year by year.