Sec. 229. Commercial-off-the-shelf wide-area surveillance systems for Army tactical unmanned aerial systems
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Congress finds that— unmanned aerial systems provide the military services with high-endurance, wide-area surveillance; wide-area surveillance has proven to be a significant force multiplier for intelligence gathering and dismounted infantry operations; currently fielded wide-area surveillance sensors are too heavy to be incorporated into tactical unmanned aerial systems; and the growing commercial market for unmanned aerial systems with full-motion video sensors may offer a commercial-off-the-shelf solution suitable for use on the military services’ tactical unmanned aerial systems.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report that contains the findings of a market survey and flight assessment of commercial-off-the-shelf wide-area surveillance sensors suitable for insertion into Army tactical unmanned aerial systems. The market survey and flight assessment required by subsection
(b)shall include— specific details regarding the capabilities of current and commercial-off-the-shelf wide-area surveillance sensors utilized on the Army unmanned aerial systems, including— daytime and nighttime monitoring coverage; video resolution outputs; bandwidth requirements; activity-based intelligence and forensic capabilities; simultaneous region of interest monitoring capability; interoperability with other sensors and subsystems currently utilized on Army tactical unmanned aerial systems; sensor weight; sensor cost; and any other factors the Secretary deems relevant; an assessment of the impact on Army tactical unmanned aerial systems due to the insertion of commercial-off-the-shelf wide-area surveillance sensors; and recommendations to upgrade or enhance the wide-area surveillance sensors of Army tactical unmanned aerial systems, as deemed appropriate by the Secretary. The report required under subsection
(b)may contain a classified annex. In this section, the term Army tactical unmanned aerial systems includes, at minimum, the MQ–1C Grey Eagle, the MQ–1 Predator, and the MQ–9 Reaper.