S. 3163 — A bill to require the Secretary of Defense to seek to engage appropriate officials of Taiwan in a joint program with Taiwan to enable the fielding of uncrewed systems and counter-uncrewed systems capabilities.

This section directs the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to seek to engage appropriate Taiwan officials by March 1, 2026, in a joint program to enable fielding of uncrewed systems and counter-uncrewed systems capabilities—including through co-development and co-production—for U.S. Armed Forces and Taiwan military forces, consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), and authorizes use of Title 10, U.S. Code, authorities and other applicable authorities to carry out the program. The section also requires the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to submit to the armed services, appropriations, and foreign relations/affairs committees of Congress a report on the program within 180 days of enactment and annually thereafter through 2029. Each report must include (1) a summary of engagements; (2) a description of activities to enable fielding of such capabilities; (3) progress on finalizing five specified defense trade foundational agreements (i.e., memorandum of understanding on reciprocal defense procurement, security of supply agreement, acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, general security of military information agreement, and cyber maturity model certification); (4) identification of additional resources or authorities needed; and (5) other matters as appropriate.