H.R. 2505 — Block the Use of Transatlantic Technology in Iranian Made Drones Act

This section states congressional findings that (1) Iran has provided financial and material support, including unmanned aircraft systems, to U.S. adversaries such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Russia in its war against Ukraine; (2) in 2022, the U.S. established an interagency task force to investigate Western technology in Iranian unmanned aircraft systems; (3) on June 9, 2023, the Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, and Treasury issued a joint advisory on the threat of Iran's unmanned aircraft systems; and (4) the U.S. has enacted sanctions targeting Iran's unmanned aircraft and missile industries, entities facilitating clandestine sales of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles, and those associated with Iran's defense ministry procurement of missile and drone components.

This section states the sense of Congress that (1) controlling the end use of dual-use technology and highly ubiquitous parts thereof in the global market is difficult for manufacturers and government regulators; (2) Iranian-made unmanned aircraft systems play a key role in the Russian Federation's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on civilian population centers and critical infrastructure such as power plants and ports; and (3) the United States, along with its allies and partners, must ensure that technology designed or produced by the United States or using certain United States software, technology, or production equipment is not used to support the Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine or used by Hamas to attack Israel, particularly in the case of unmanned aircraft systems produced by Iran.

This section directs the Secretaries of Commerce, State, and Defense, in coordination with other specified officials, to develop strategies and options to prevent Iran's acquisition of technologies used in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), including specified microelectronics (i.e., microcontrollers, voltage regulators, digital signal controllers, GPS modules, microprocessors). Specifically, it requires— (1) the Secretary of Commerce to submit to congressional committees, within 60 days of enactment, an unclassified strategy (with possible separate classified annex) that includes processes to identify relevant UAS technologies and components, U.S. and foreign manufacturers, third-party distributors circumventing export controls, and to engage U.S. manufacturers with distributor updates; (2) the Secretary of State to submit, within 90 days of enactment, an unclassified strategy (with possible separate classified annex) that includes processes to identify foreign manufacturers of such technologies and to synchronize U.S. allies' and partners' export controls with U.S. controls; and (3) the Secretary of Defense to develop, within 30 days of enactment, options for the U.S. Armed Forces to counter or deny Iran such technologies (adding computer-aided design software and computer numerical control machines) and to brief congressional committees on those options within 45 days of enactment.

This section defines, for purposes of the Act, the following terms: (1) appropriate congressional committees, meaning the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Armed Services, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and (2) unmanned aircraft and unmanned aircraft system, having the meanings given those terms in 10 U.S.C. §130i.