Air Force requests $216M internal reprogramming for ABMS, Agility Prime

The Air Force is asking lawmakers to approve a $216.7 million reprogramming that includes a $131 million funding shift for the Advanced Battle Management System and $25 million for Agility Prime, according to a new reprogramming document acting Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker signed today.

Of the ABMS funds, $97 million comes from the Multidomain Command-and-Control account and $34 million comes from the ABMS account that the Defense Department said was incorrectly listed as Budget Activity 7 in an administrative error.

The shift essentially integrates the ABMS and MDC2 funding into a single program element in Budget Activity 4, which more accurately reflects the technological maturity of capabilities being developed for ABMS, the reprogramming document states.

These capabilities are intended to connect sensors, weapons and warfighters on a shared network to achieve joint all-domain command and control. The Air Force is taking a DevSecOps-like approach to technology integration.

Meanwhile, the service is also asking lawmakers to approve a $25 million transfer for the new Agility Prime program in Budget Activity 4. Agility Prime aims to accelerate and adopt technology in the electric vertical take-off and landing industry.

The funding comes from the Aerospace Technology Development/Demonstration account that Congress added so the Air Force could conduct testing for the program in Budget Activity 3. According to the reprogramming document, the shift more accurately reflects the experimentation and prototyping the Air Force intends to do.

Separately, the service also wants to add $35 million to the Distributed Cyber Warfare Operations account in Budget Activity 7, explaining the funds were incorrectly assigned to a different cyberspace account listed in Budget Activity 4. Corrections appear in the FY-21 budget proposal, the document states.