Sec. 1544. Improving United States missile defense capabilities
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The Secretary shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate development of non-kinetic capabilities to negate missile or unmanned system threats prior to launch or after launch. Such capabilities may include cyber (offense and defense), supply chain interdiction, artificial intelligence-driven battle management, electromagnetic spectrum, directed energy weapons, and high-power microwave defense options capable of defeating large-scale missile or unmanned system attacks. The Secretary shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate development and rapid prototyping of high technology readiness level
(TRL)capabilities in order to acquire and field an information fusion, software-centric platform that utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies capable of delivering air, land, space, and maritime domain awareness and early warning capabilities for homeland defense across disparate novel and legacy systems. Such platform shall employ a common data layer that can support the rapid integration of new sensors and effectors across all tiers of the integrated air and missile defense system. The Program Manager shall, with support from the Missile Defense Agency, assess the funding needs necessary to expand Next Generation Interceptor production and silo construction to field up to 80 interceptors for defense of the United States. Subject to the availability of appropriations, interceptor testing and initial fielding shall be completed not later than January 1, 2028. For each fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act, each commander of a combatant command shall include the terrestrial-based sensor requirements, space-based sensor requirements, and counter-unmanned system requirements of the combatant command of the commander in the supporting information for the Department of Defense submitted along with the budget of the President to Congress for such fiscal year pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code. The Program Manager shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate development of the Glide Phase Interceptor to defend against hypersonic threats to the United States homeland. The Program Manager shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate the production and fielding of ground mobile interceptors and radars for forward deployment and homeland defense as the Secretary and President consider appropriate. The Program Manager shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate development and fielding of resilient positioning, navigation, and timing
(PNT)solutions that can operate effectively in ground positioning system (GPS)-denied environments. Such solutions may include the following: Quantum-enhanced inertial navigation and atomic clock technologies to maintain continuous positioning, navigation, and timing functionality in ground positioning system-degraded or denied scenarios. Enhanced terrestrial-based navigation systems for greater assured positioning in ground positioning system-contested environments. Robust data fusion techniques that integrate multiple positioning, navigation, and timing sources, such as radar-based tracking, vision-aided navigation, and low-Earth orbit
(LEO)signals, to sustain operational effectiveness during electronic warfare
(EW)attacks or cyber intrusions. Commercially available, field-proven alternative positioning, navigation, and timing solutions that leverage advanced sensor fusion, artificial intelligence-driven error correction, and resilient positioning, navigation, and timing processing to provide assured navigation for mobile and fixed defense platforms, including those currently deployed in hypersonic tracking and integrated air and missile defense applications. The Program Manager shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate development, test, and fielding of a low-cost scalable interceptor that can augment existing production lines and provide resiliency to the integrated air and missile defense system. The Program Manager shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate development and deployment of proliferated space-based sensors and interceptors capable of ballistic and hypersonic missile intercept. The Program Manager shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate modernization of terrestrial-based radar capabilities and other such sensors to improve detection of intercontinental and sea-launched missile threats, as well as improve space domain awareness capabilities. Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Program Manager shall submit to Congress a report detailing a plan for a highly flexible, and if necessary mobile, terrestrial missile defense network capable of defending critical nodes across the United States, including noncontiguous States and territories, from likely attack vectors. The Program Manager, working with the military departments, shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate production of critical munitions used for missile interception, including Standard Missile 3 Blocks IB and IIA and PAC–2 and PAC–3 munitions, to ensure their availability as an additional sub-layer of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system. The Program Manager shall assess the funding needs required to accelerate the procurement and fielding of air moving target indicator
(AMTI)systems capable of detecting, tracking, and distinguishing airborne moving targets from stationary or cluttered backgrounds. The Program Manager shall assess the funding needs to accelerate the development and expansion of the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System to detect and track undersea threats like submersibles that carry missiles near United States shorelines. Not later than March 31, 2026, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report summarizing the results of the assessments carried out under this section. The term commercial solution means a product, other than real property, that— is of a type customarily used by the general public or by nongovernmental entities for purposes other than governmental purposes and— has been sold, leased, or licensed to the general public; or has been offered for sale, lease, or license to the general public. The term commercial solution includes commercial products, components, and services in alignment with the Federal Government’s preference for the acquisition of commercial products and commercial services, as set forth in sections 1906, 1907, and 3307 of title 41, United States Code, and sections 3451 through 3453 of title 10, United States Code, which establish acquisition policies more closely resembling those of the commercial marketplace and encourage the acquisition of commercial products and commercial services. The term Golden Dome means the holistic missile defense architecture described in this section. The term missile means a ballistic, hypersonic, cruise, hypersonic cruise, or loitering munition. The term Program Manager means the Golden Dome Direct Report Program Manager. The term Secretary means the Secretary of Defense. The term unmanned system means a remote-operated or autonomous unmanned system of any size maneuvering in land, sea, air, or space that is capable of single attacks, swarm attacks, or sensor and data collection and reconnaissance.