Sec. 218. Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems development program accountability matrices
950 words·~4 min read·
/bill/118/hr/2670/eh/section-218·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Concurrent with the President’s annual budget request submitted to Congress under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, for fiscal year 2025— the Secretary of the Air Force shall submit to the congressional defense committees and the Comptroller General of the United States the matrices described in subsection
(b)relating to the Next Generation Air Dominance piloted fighter aircraft and the autonomous, uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs of the Air Force; and the Secretary of the Navy shall submit to the congressional defense committees and the Comptroller General of the United States the matrices described in subsection
(b)relating to the Next Generation Air Dominance piloted fighter aircraft and the autonomous, uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs of the Navy and the Marine Corps. The matrices described in this subsection are the following: A matrix that identifies, in six month increments, key milestones, development and testing events, and specific performance goals for the engineering manufacturing and development phase (referred to in this section as the EMD phase ) of the programs described in subsection (a), and which shall be subdivided, at a minimum, according to the following: Technology readiness levels of major components and subsystems and key demonstration and testing events. Design maturity. Software maturity. Subsystem and system-level integration maturity. Manufacturing readiness levels for critical manufacturing operations and key demonstration and testing events. Manufacturing operations. System verification, validation, and key flight test events. Reliability. Availability for flight operations. Maintainability. A matrix expressing, in six month increments, the total cost for the Secretary’s service cost position for the EMD phase and low initial rate of production lots of the programs described in subsection
(a)and a matrix expressing the total cost for the prime contractor’s estimate for such EMD phase and production lots, both of which shall be phased over the entire EMD period and subdivided according to the costs of the following: Air vehicle. Propulsion. Mission systems. Vehicle subsystems. Air vehicle software. Systems engineering. Program management. System test and evaluation. Support and training systems. Contract fee. Engineering changes. Direct mission support, including Congressional General Reductions. Government testing. Ancillary aircraft equipment. Initial spares. Contractor support. Modifications. Not later than 180 days after the date on which the Secretaries concerned submit the matrices required by subsection (a), concurrent with the submittal of each annual budget request to Congress under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, thereafter, and not later than 180 days after each such submittal, each Secretary concerned shall submit to the congressional defense committees and the Comptroller General of the United States updates to the matrices described in subsection (b). Each update submitted under paragraph
(1)shall detail progress made toward the goals identified in the matrix described in subsection (b)(1) and provide updated cost estimates as described in subsection (b)(2). The initial matrices submitted pursuant to subsection
(a)shall be treated as the baseline for the full EMD phase and low-rate initial production of the programs described in subsection
(a)for purposes of the updates submitted pursuant to paragraph
(1)of this subsection. Not later than the date that is 60 days after the date on which the Comptroller General of the United States receives an update to a matrix under subsection (c)(1), the Comptroller General shall review the sufficiency of such matrix and submit to the congressional defense committees an assessment of such matrix, including by identifying cost, schedule, or performance trends. Each Secretary concerned shall develop key performance parameters (referred to in this section as cost KPPs) for the threshold and objective costs of the programs described in subsection
(a)under the jurisdiction of such Secretary and shall include those values as program performance requirements in any capability development document or system requirements document for the program involved. Each cost KPP shall include, for each cost category specified in paragraph (2)— a threshold value indicating the highest acceptable cost for that category, as determined by the Secretary concerned; and an objective value indicating the lowest cost expected to be achieved for that category, as determined by the Secretary concerned. The cost categories specified in this paragraph are the following: Flyaway unit cost. Gross/weapon system unit cost. Aircraft cost-per-tail-per-year. Aircraft cost-per-flight-hour. Each Secretary concerned shall categorize each Collaborative Combat Aircraft to be procured by such Secretary into one of following categories: An aircraft shall be categorized as expendable CCA if it is an aerospace vehicle that is designed not to return to a basing location after its mission sortie profile is executed and is characterized as an acceptable combat loss. An aircraft shall be categorized as attritable CCA if it is an aerospace vehicle that is designed to be used for multiple mission sortie profiles but may not return to a basing location after a mission sortie profile is flown and is characterized as an occasional combat loss. An aircraft shall be categorized as exquisite CCA if it is an aerospace vehicle designed to be used for multiple mission sortie profiles and is intended to return to a basing location after each sortie profile is flown and is not considered an acceptable combat loss. Each Secretary concerned shall ensure that the flyaway unit cost (including the cost of any onboard mission systems)— for an aircraft categorized as expendable CCA under paragraph (1)(A), does not exceed $3,000,000.00; for an aircraft categorized as attritable CCA under paragraph (1)(B), does not exceed $10,000,000.00; and for an aircraft categorized as exquisite CCA under paragraph (1)(C), does not exceed $25,000,000.00. In this section, the term Secretary concerned means— the Secretary of the Navy, with respect to aircraft programs of the Navy and the Marine Corps; and the Secretary of the Air Force, with respect to aircraft programs of the Air Force.