The Defense Department is seeking $90 million in fiscal year 2027 for a new-start program to mature nuclear prototypes and position them for successful transition to procurement, per Pentagon budget justification documents.

The nuclear prototyping project line falls under an initiative aimed at finding technologies to meet “the most pressing operational needs identified in the 2026 National Defense Strategy,” according to budget documents.

Modernizing and maintaining a robust nuclear defense is one of the key priorities of the 2026 NDS.

The Pentagon plans to spend $90 million annually from FY-27 through FY-31 on the new-start, according to budget documents.

The nuclear prototyping effort falls under a program typically used to pull capability prototypes from joint experimentation into the acquisition process. Prototypes that are funded require a military service to be ready to accept them at the end of their transition pipelines. Such prototypes are also generally expected to stand at Technology Readiness Level 6 or above.

The goal is for work done under the new-start to mature the nuclear prototype technologies up to that TRL 6, “making the technology available for transition out of the Science and Technology (S&T) phase and into a formal acquisition program within the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP),” the justification book states.