Inside every RDT&E appropriation, money is sorted into budget activities: bands that describe how mature the work is. BA 1 is a research paper. BA 7 is a fielded system getting an upgrade. The band tells you what the program is allowed to do with the money, and it is the single fastest way to read a program’s real stage regardless of what its briefing slides claim.
The numbering runs in two notations that mean the same thing: “BA 4” and “6.4” are the same band.
The bands
- BA 1 · Basic Research (6.1) — science with no specific application yet
- BA 2 · Applied Research (6.2) — science pointed at a military need
- BA 3 · Advanced Technology Development (6.3) — building things to prove feasibility
- BA 4 · Advanced Component Development and Prototypes (6.4) — prototypes in a relevant environment
- BA 5 · System Development and Demonstration (6.5) — engineering a producible system
- BA 6 · RDT&E Management Support (6.6) — ranges, labs, test infrastructure
- BA 7 · Operational Systems Development (6.7) — improving what is already fielded
The newer bands
Created to let software move at software speed rather than through the milestone system.
- BA 8 · Software and Digital Technology Pilot Programs (6.8)
- BA 9 · Agile RDT&E Portfolio Management (6.9)
Reading the bands
A program moving from 6.3 to 6.4 is a real event: it means prototypes are expected. A program parked in 6.7 for a decade is sustaining, not innovating. A program that appears directly in 6.8 skipped the traditional maturity ladder on purpose.
Related: appropriations sit above this layer, the hierarchy shows the whole chain, and JCIDS explains how the requirement that justifies the band gets written.