Ground Technology

Ground Technology (PE 0602144A) is the Army's applied-research program for technologies that enable ground movement, maneuver, sustainment, and protection of Soldiers and systems. It supports the Next Generation Combat Vehicle modernization priority and develops foundational capabilities for current and future operations. The program is funded under appropriation 2040, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Army, Budget Activity 2, Applied Research. Work spans Army laboratories and centers, including the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Chemical Biological Center (CBC), Ground Vehicle Systems Center, and U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center laboratories; it complements related combat-vehicle, ground advanced-technology, and Soldier-lethality research.

Materials and Manufacturing Research Technology (BL1) links material design, manufacturing processes, and physics-based models to improve Army capabilities in protection, maneuver, power, sensing, and signature management. Its FY 2027 supply-chain-resilience effort consolidates earlier additive-manufacturing and armor research rather than starting an unrelated program. ARL will investigate engineered feedstocks, high-throughput manufacturing of complex shapes, lightweight protection against kinetic and emerging threats, directed-energy protection, and damage-resistant transparent armor for personnel and sensors. The objective is to make advanced materials manufacturable at scale through more resilient domestic supply chains.

BL1 separately expands Advanced Energy Storage Technologies for Safe, Effective Batteries in Operational Environments. With industry, academia, and Department of War partners, researchers will assess standardized cells from '20 C to '60 C and examine their stability at ambient and elevated temperatures, then explore integration into experimental battery packs and unmanned aerial systems (UAS). They will investigate faster charging, low-temperature electrolytes, safer high-density cells, and multivalent and beyond-lithium chemistries that could reduce reliance on constrained material sources. Another BL1 effort will research sulfur-tolerant catalysts for solid oxide fuel cells.

Expedient Passive Protection Technology (BL5) develops rapidly deployable protection and survivability decision support for personnel, facilities, logistical nodes, and other critical assets. In FY 2027, its Deliberate Expedient Protection for Large-scale Operations Yielding Survivability (DEPLOYS) effort will experimentally assess protection concepts for expeditionary supply locations and refine assessments across different attack scenarios; the broader effort is intended to strengthen defenses on Guam. A distinct subterranean effort will establish performance baselines for geophysical sensors, then select promising approaches for detecting tunnels, perimeter threats, and geohazards in GPS-denied jungle, volcanic-island, and near-shore environments associated with INDOPACOM.

Power Projection in A2AD Environments Technology (BL7) addresses movement through anti-access and area-denial environments across land and littoral approaches. FY 2027 force-projection work will design materials for crossing irregular terrain, investigate preparation for over-the-shore operations, and examine data for beach-assault engineering decisions. The separate Maritime Contested Logistics effort will mature remotely obtained sensor feeds and algorithms, validate littoral models with site observations, and investigate environmental effects and navigation hazards. Together, these activities help engineers assess and prepare maneuver corridors without treating beaches, marshes, and near-shore waters as interchangeable terrain.

BL7 also brings together two distinct standoff Engineer and threat-detection activities. Advancing Threat Detection Capabilities in Mission Critical Environments, consolidated from Environmental Security Resilience Technology (DI7), will establish initial algorithm parameters for commercial off-the-shelf systems to identify biological, chemical, radiological, and energetic hazards. Machine Teaming for Engineer Operations, consolidated from Robotics for Engineer Operations Technology (BK7), will begin machine-learning capabilities that let selected unmanned engineering machines coordinate on a collective task. The robotic work aims to increase the work one operator can oversee while reducing Engineer exposure during terrain-shaping operations.

Protection from Advanced Weapon Effects Technology (BL9) studies materials, structural hardening, and modeling tools for protecting personnel and critical assets. Its FY 2027 Multi-functional Materials for Protection activity will refine constitutive models and computational algorithms describing material behavior under dynamic loading and kinetic effects. A separate Protection from Emerging Weapons activity will investigate structural components and material solutions for hardened facilities exposed to advanced penetrators, including the effects of embedded detonations. These efforts follow the conclusion of earlier material-model validation and subscale advanced-penetrator investigations.

Engineer Enablers Maneuver, LOG, & Sustainment Apl (CV3) develops decision support and physical measures for distributed logistics and gap crossing. The Worldwide Gap Analysis Program, begun in FY 2026, will develop FY 2027 algorithms for mobility corridors, streamflow, and site preparation; decision logic will compare crossing sites by crossing type and begin incorporating dynamic hydrology data. A separate Gap Crossing Survivability effort will investigate protection and deception measures for personnel and assets, using doctrine and operational practices to inform future decisions. The earlier logistics-routing effort concludes after work on road degradation and multimodal transportation algorithms.

SAFR Alternatives for Readiness Applied Research (DA1) seeks safer substitutes for materials whose toxicity or regulation can threaten readiness, maintenance, training, and supply chains. In FY 2027, the Safer Alternatives for Readiness effort will continue developing plasticizers for lead-free rocket propellants and evaluate corrosion behavior in conventional and additively manufactured substrates. The project addresses hazards including lead and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), while its separate corrosion-control initiative and textile-repellent research cease receiving funding under this line.

Development of Obscurants (DG1), performed by CBC, investigates materials that screen deployed personnel and equipment from enemy surveillance, target acquisition, missile guidance, and directed-energy weapons. FY 2027 research will assess multispectral obscurant materials and dissemination methods, down-select a material, and begin integration with the Screening and Obscuration Module. The work builds on investigations of millimeter-wave obscurants while narrowing the candidates considered.

Ground Technology Materials (CA) (BN8) records congressional-interest additions from FY 2025 and FY 2026, rather than an FY 2027 activity. Its funding supported topics including carbon nanomaterial additives, protective coatings, polar proving-ground work, scalable two-dimensional polymers, advanced deposition, additive and hybrid manufacturing, soil and roadway improvement, weather forecasting, and cold-region energy resilience. Ground Protection Concepts and Technologies (CG7), which developed armor mechanisms and modeling tools, shifts in FY 2027 to the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Technology program's Advanced Concepts for Active Defense project.

Explosives Forensics Technology (BL2) previously investigated trace sensing and analytical methods for military explosives, homemade explosives, precursors, and contaminated surfaces; its FY 2027 decrease reflects resource reallocation. Human Autonomy Teaming (CG8) supported FY 2025 research on Soldier artificial intelligence adaptation and operational and tactical planning, while Ground Enabling University Applied Research (CI2) drew on university teams for ground autonomy, robotics, human robot interaction, and vehicle technologies. Environmental Security Resilience Technology (DI7) funded earlier environmental, atmospheric, water, PFAS-risk, and threat-sensing work; selected capabilities consolidate into other Ground Technology projects for FY 2027.