“A bill to improve the missile defense capabilities of the United States, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional findings citing the 2022 Missile Defense Review, the October 2023 Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, and the July 2024 Commission on the National Defense Strategy on expanding missile and unmanned system threats from adversaries including China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran; declares it Federal Government policy to deploy and maintain a next-generation missile defense shield, deter homeland attacks, and guarantee secure second-strike capability; and expresses the sense of the Senate on the need for rapid development and deployment of space-based sensors and interceptors, full integration of defense architectures, clear delineation of responsibilities for the Golden Dome missile defense system, and achieving total domain awareness.
This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) commercial solution, meaning a product (other than real property) customarily used by the general public or nongovernmental entities for nongovernmental purposes that has been or is offered to be sold, leased, or licensed to the public (including commercial products, components, and services consistent with federal acquisition preferences under specified provisions of titles 10 and 41, U.S. Code); (2) Golden Dome, meaning the holistic missile defense architecture described in the Act; (3) missile, meaning a ballistic, hypersonic, cruise, hypersonic cruise, or loitering munition; (4) Program Manager, meaning the Golden Dome Direct Report Program Manager appointed under section 4(a)(4)(A); (5) Secretary, meaning the Secretary of Defense; and (6) unmanned system, meaning a remote-operated or autonomous 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.
This section requires the Secretary of Defense to develop, not later than one year after enactment, a holistic missile defense strategy—termed Golden Dome—to identify critical infrastructure for defense against adversaries' missiles and unmanned systems. The strategy must include plans for (1) layered sensors from seafloor to space and cyberspace for all-domain awareness; (2) integrated, secure, open, and redundant command-and-control architecture with a clear human chain of command; (3) leveraging distributed advanced or additive manufacturing; and (4) maximizing commercial solutions. This section establishes a Golden Dome Direct Report Program Manager, appointed by the Secretary from Army, Air Force, Space Force, Navy, or Marine Corps general or flag officers at the grade of general and positioned under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who reports directly to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and has acquisition authorities equivalent to Defense Acquisition Executives (including milestone decision, contracting, hiring, classification, military construction, and full budgeting and fund oversight authority); is exempt from the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System Manual and DoD Directive 5000.01; is protected from intervention except by the President, Secretary, or statute; and may collaborate with other federal agencies on a priority basis. The Secretary and Program Manager must also establish a robust testing regime for kinetic and nonkinetic interceptors, beginning with a virtual exercise not later than 540 days after enactment.
This section adds a new section to chapter 382 of title 10, United States Code, requiring agency heads, to the maximum extent practicable, to (1) ensure space acquisitions employ procedures that maximize competition; (2) procure mission-critical national security space-based systems delivering tactical data from low Earth orbit through open competition among multiple vendors, with products complying with interfaces and standards that maximize resilience and interoperability with Department of Defense systems; and (3) require contracts or as-a-service agreements for such tactical data delivery systems to be demonstrably competitive in performance, cost, and speed relative to existing programs, while using reasonable best efforts to avoid as-a-service arrangements that would cause a major contraction of the space industrial base. Agency heads must also direct acquisition officials to develop guidance implementing these requirements, delivering systems per government standards and interfaces, and preventing major reductions or consolidation of the space industrial base. (As background, the space industrial base comprises contractors and suppliers providing systems and services for national security space capabilities, including satellites and tactical data links essential to U.S. Space Force operations.)
This section revises Department of Defense (DoD) authority to mitigate unmanned aircraft system (UAS) threats to covered facilities or assets (i.e., certain military installations, vessels, aircraft, and personnel) by (1) specifying exemptions from additional Title 18 criminal provisions (sections 32, 1030, and 1367 and chapters 119 and 206, in addition to prior exemptions); (2) requiring the Secretary of Defense to delegate such authority to combatant commanders, service secretaries, or other appropriate DoD officials; (3) authorizing warnings to UAS operators through remote identification broadcasts or other means; and (4) expanding covered facilities and assets to include additional DoD properties (under 10 USC 2672), weapons-of-mass-destruction incident responses (under 10 USC 282 or the Stafford Act), activities under 10 USC 2692(b), and time- and location-limited emergency responses. The section further (1) exempts related DoD and Coast Guard mitigation technologies, procedures, and protocols from disclosure under FOIA (5 USC 552(b)(3)) and state/local laws; (2) exempts DoD and Coast Guard UAS mitigation activities conducted outside the United States from the specified Title 18 provisions and 49 USC 46502; (3) extends the authority's sunset date to December 31, 2030 (from December 31, 2026) and the related assessment report deadline to November 15, 2030 (from November 15, 2026), with the reporting period expanded to one year (from 180 days); and (4) adds specified congressional committees to notification requirements and defines "combatant command."
This section authorizes $23,023,100,000 for FY2026 to carry out this Act on missile defense enhancements, allocating specified amounts as follows: (1) $500 million for SM–3 Block 1B requirements; (2) $500 million for SM–3 Block IIA requirements; (3) $1 billion for development, testing, and procurement of ground mobile interceptors and radars; (4) $1.5 billion for PAC–2 and PAC–3 munitions and MM–104 Patriot batteries; (5) $500 million for Alaska-based Aegis Ashore station construction; (6) $460 million for Next Generation Interceptor production and expansion of Fort Greely, Alaska, missile fields to up to 80 units; (7) $260 million for an additional Next Generation Interceptor site in the continental United States; (8) $250 million for Hawaii Aegis Ashore completion, certification, and Maui Space Surveillance Complex upgrades; (9) $100 million for Space Development Agency satellite sensors; (10) $750 million for terrestrial-based domain awareness radar modernization; (11) $2.5 billion for non-kinetic missile defense R&D across military departments; (12) $5.9 billion for space-based missile defense and sensor network R&D and deployment; (13) $3.1 billion for Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor procurement; (14) $63.1 million for Missile Defense Complex and Fire Team Readiness Facility; (15) $50 million for dirigibles procurement and fielding; (16) $750 million for all-domain sensor innovation and modernization, including $76 million for a machine learning and AI data fusion platform; (17) $450 million for counter-hypersonic advanced glide phase interceptors; (18) $1.5 billion for positioning, navigation, and timing systems R&D and deployment; (19) $90 million for Integrated Undersea Sensor System procurement and fielding; (20) $2.5 billion for air moving target indicator systems procurement and fielding; (21) $100 million for integrated command and control software and architecture; (22) $75 million for a low-cost, scalable ground interceptor; and (23) $125 million for autonomous agents against cruise missiles and unmanned systems.