(a) Short title.—This Act may be cited as the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024”.

(b) Table of contents.—The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Organization of Act into divisions; table of contents.
Sec. 3. Congressional defense committees.
Sec. 4. Budgetary effects of this Act.

(a) Divisions.—This Act is organized into four divisions as follows:

(1) Division A—Department of Defense Authorizations.

(2) Division B—Military Construction Authorizations.

(3) Division C—Department of Energy National Security Authorizations and Other Authorizations.

(4) Division D—Funding Tables.

(b) Table of contents.—The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

In this Act, the term “congressional defense committees” has the meaning given that term in section 101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code.

The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purposes of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled “Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation” for this Act, jointly submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage in the House acting first on the conference report or amendment between the Houses.

Funds are hereby authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2024 for procurement for the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps, the Air Force and the Space Force, and Defense-wide activities, as specified in the funding table in section 4101.

(a) Report required.—Not later than February 29, 2024, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on night vision devices.

(b) Elements.—The report required by subsection (a) shall include the following elements:

(1) An identification of the specific capabilities the Army is seeking to achieve in night vision.

(2) An identification of the capabilities in night vision required by unit, including the number and type of units for each capability.

(3) An identification of the total requirement for night vision devices in the Army, disaggregated by number and type of unit.

(4) A description of the acquisition strategy of the Army for achieving the capabilities described in paragraph (1), including a description of each of the following:

(A) The acquisition objective for each type of night vision device.

(B) The programmed purchase quantities for night vision devices required each year.

(C) The contract type of each procurement of night vision devices.

(D) The expected date for achieving the capabilities.

(E) The industrial base constraints on each type of night vision device.

(F) The modernization plan for each type of night vision device.

(a) Updated assessment.—The Secretary of the Army shall update the assessment of the Secretary on the sufficiency of the development, production, procurement, and modernization of the defense industrial base for cannon and large caliber weapons tubes.

(b) Submittal to Congress.—Not later than February 29, 2024, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives an update to the report submitted to Congress in March 2022 entitled “Army Plan for Ensuring Sources of Cannon Tubes”.

(a) Strategy required.—In the budget justification materials submitted in support of the budget of the Department of Defense (as submitted with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code) for fiscal year 2025 and every five years thereafter, the Secretary of the Army shall include a report on the strategy of the Army for tactical wheeled vehicles.

(b) Requirements for strategy.—Each strategy required by subsection (a) shall—

(1) align with the applicable national defense strategy under section 113(g) of title 10, United States Code, and applicable policies;

(2) be designed so that the force of tactical wheeled vehicles provided under the strategy supports the national security strategy of the United States as set forth in the most recent national security strategy report of the President under section 108 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3043); and

(3) define capabilities and capacity requirements across the entire fleet of tactical wheeled vehicles, including—

(A) light, medium, and heavy tactical wheeled vehicles; and

(B) associated trailer and support equipment.

(c) Strategy elements.—Each strategy required by subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) A detailed program for the construction of light, medium, and heavy tactical wheeled vehicles for the Army over the next five fiscal years.

(2) A description of the necessary force structure and capabilities of tactical wheeled vehicles to meet the requirements of the national security strategy described in subsection (b)(2).

(3) The estimated levels of annual funding, by vehicle class, in both graphical and tabular form, necessary to carry out the program described in paragraph (1), together with a discussion of the procurement strategies on which such estimated levels of annual funding are based.

(4) The estimated total cost of construction for each vehicle class used to determine the estimated levels of annual funding described in paragraph (3).

(d) Considerations.—In developing each strategy required by subsection (a), the Secretary of the Army shall consider the following objectives and factors:

(1) Objectives relating to protection, fleet operations, mission command, mobility, and the industrial base.

(2) Technological advances that will increase efficiency of and reduce demand for tactical wheeled vehicles.

(3) Technological advances that allow for the operation of tactical wheeled vehicles in a variety of climate and geographic conditions.

(4) Existing commercial technologies such as vehicle electrification, autonomous capabilities, and predictive maintenance, among others.

(5) The capabilities of autonomous equivalents to tactical wheeled vehicles.

(e) Briefing requirements.—Not later than 15 days after each budget submission described in subsection (a), in conjunction with the submission of each strategy required by such subsection, the Secretary of the Army shall provide a briefing to the congressional defense committees that addresses the investment needed for each platform of tactical wheeled vehicle across the future-years defense program.

Section 2834(d) of the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (division B of Public Law 117–81; 135 Stat. 2201) is amended—

(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “March 31, 2026” and inserting “March 31, 2030”; and

(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

“(5) A description of any changes made to the master plan based upon current global events, including pandemics and armed conflicts.”.

(a) In general.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army, in conjunction with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and in coordination with the geographic combatant commanders, shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report reviewing the proposed recompete of the operational task orders of the geographic combatant commands under the contract for the logistics augmentation program of the Army that will expire in 2028 (commonly referred to as “LOGCAP V”).

(b) Elements.—The report required by subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) A business case analysis of the cost and operational benefit of recompeting the task orders described in subsection (a).

(2) Input from stakeholders, including Army Sustainment Command, the geographic combatant commanders, and Army service component commanders, on the desirability and operational impacts of the proposed recompete described in subsection (a).

(3) Detailed cost estimates and timelines, including projected transition costs and timelines for the task orders described in subsection (a).

(4) An assessment of the potential impacts related to quality and timing of transitioning to the new logistics augmentation program (commonly referred to as “LOGCAP VI”).

(5) An analysis of recompeting the task orders described in subsection (a) compared to transitioning to LOGCAP VI.

(6) An overview of potential innovations and efficiencies derived from a competition for LOGCAP VI.

(7) An explanation of the benefit of recompeting the task orders described in subsection (a) compared to an open competition for LOGCAP VI.

(8) A breakdown of additional authorities needed to move directly to LOGCAP VI.

Section 8062(e) of title 10, United States Code, is amended—

(1) in paragraph (1), by striking “until the earlier of” and all that follows and inserting “until the date on which additional operationally deployable aircraft carriers can fully support a 10th carrier air wing;”; and

(2) in paragraph (2), by striking “the earlier of” and all that follows through “and (B) of” and inserting “the date referred to in”.

Section 130(a) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115–232; 132 Stat. 1665), as most recently amended by section 123(a) of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263), is further amended by striking “through 2023” and inserting “through 2024”.

(a) Authority for multiyear procurement.—Subject to section 3501 of title 10, United States Code, the Secretary of the Navy may enter into one or more multiyear contracts for the procurement of 10 Virginia class submarines.

(b) Authority for advance procurement and economic order quantity.—The Secretary of the Navy may enter into one or more contracts, beginning in fiscal year 2024, for advance procurement associated with the Virginia class submarines for which authorization to enter into a multiyear procurement contract is provided under subsection (a) and for equipment or subsystems associated with the Virginia class submarine program, including procurement of—

(1) long lead time material; or

(2) material or equipment in economic order quantities when cost savings are achievable.

(c) Condition for out-year contract payments.—A contract entered into under subsection (a) shall provide that any obligation of the United States to make a payment under the contract for a fiscal year after fiscal year 2025 is subject to the availability of appropriations or funds for that purpose for such later fiscal year.

(d) Limitation on termination liability.—A contract for the construction of Virginia class submarines entered into under subsection (a) shall include a clause that limits the liability of the United States to the contractor for any termination of the contract. The maximum liability of the United States under the clause shall be the amount appropriated for the submarines covered by the contract regardless of the amount obligated under the contract.

(a) Findings.—Congress finds that Congress appropriated funds for twelve F/A–18 Super Hornet platforms in fiscal year 2022 and eight F/A–18 Super Hornet platforms in fiscal year 2023, but the Navy has yet to enter into any contracts for the procurement of such platforms.

(b) Sense of Senate.—It is the sense of the Senate that—

(1) the Secretary of the Navy and the contractor team should expeditiously enter into contractual agreements to procure the twenty F/A–18 Super Hornet platforms for which funds have been appropriated; and

(2) the Senate urges the Secretary of the Navy and the contractor team to comply with congressional intent and applicable law with appropriate expediency to bolster the Navy’s fleet of strike fighter aircraft and avoid further disruption to the defense industrial base.

Section 9062 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

“(l) (1) During the period beginning on the date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 and ending on September 30, 2028, the Secretary of the Air Force may not—

“(A) retire an RQ–4 aircraft;

“(B) reduce funding for unit personnel or weapon system sustainment activities for RQ–4 aircraft in a manner that presumes future congressional authority to divest such aircraft;

“(C) keep an RQ–4 aircraft in a status considered excess to the requirements of the possessing command and awaiting disposition instructions (commonly referred to as ‘XJ’ status); or

“(D) decrease the total aircraft inventory of RQ–4 aircraft below 10 aircraft.

“(2) The prohibition under paragraph (1) shall not apply to individual RQ–4 aircraft that the Secretary of the Air Force determines, on a case-by-case basis, to be no longer mission capable and uneconomical to repair because of aircraft accidents, mishaps, or excessive material degradation and non-airworthiness status of certain aircraft.”.

No divestiture of any T–1A training aircraft may occur until the Chief of Staff of the Air Force submits to the congressional defense committees a certification of—

(1) the fleet-wide implementation of the Undergraduate Pilot Training 2.5 curriculum and the effect of such implementation on the undergraduate pilot training pipeline; and

(2) how the divestiture would affect existing programs of the Air Force that accelerate pilot training.

(a) Fiscal year 2017 NDAA.—Section 134(d) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 130 Stat. 2038), as amended by section 141(b)(1) of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263), is further amended by striking “153 A–10 aircraft” and inserting “135 A–10 aircraft”.

(b) Fiscal year 2016 NDAA.—Section 142(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114–92; 129 Stat. 755), as amended by section 141(b)(2) of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263), is further amended by striking “153 A–10 aircraft” and inserting “135 A–10 aircraft”.

Section 9062(i)(1) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking “1,145 fighter aircraft” and inserting “1,112 fighter aircraft”.

Section 150 of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263; 136 Stat. 2456) is amended—

(1) in subsection (b)(1)—

(A) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by striking “; and” and inserting a semicolon;

(B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and

(C) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

“(E) for each covered F–15 aircraft that the Secretary plans to divest, a description of—

“(i) the upgrades and modifications done to the aircraft, including the date of each modification and the value amount of each modification in current year dollars; and

“(ii) the estimated remaining service life of—

“(I) the aircraft; and

“(II) the onboard systems of the aircraft.”; and

(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and

(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new subsection (c):

“(c) Updates.—Not later than October 1 of each year through October 1, 2028, the Secretary of the Air Force shall—

“(1) update the report required under subsection (b); and

“(2) submit such update to the congressional defense committees.”.

(a) In general.—Not later than January 1, 2025, the Secretary of the Air Force shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report that includes the following:

(1) An overview of the total missions flown by executive aircraft of the Air Force during the five fiscal years preceding the fiscal year in which the report is submitted, disaggregated by fiscal year, including the mission types and Government agencies supported.

(2) An identification of each mission flown by executive aircraft of the Air Force during the five fiscal years preceding the fiscal year in which the report is submitted, disaggregated by fiscal year, including the mission type, overall cost, average flight hour cost, and Government agency supported, disaggregated by wing and by type of aircraft.

(3) The projected mission capacity for executive aircraft of the Air Force for the five fiscal years following the fiscal year in which the report is submitted, disaggregated by fiscal year, factoring in any planned changes to aircraft inventory.

(4) A description of any anomalous conditions that may have impacted the availability, with respect to executive aircraft of the Air Force, of a specific aircraft type or wing during the five fiscal years preceding the fiscal year in which the report is submitted, such as unavailability of a specific aircraft type due to block upgrades or fleetwide maintenance issues.

(5) A description of the impact of the capacity of executive aircraft of the Air Force on the overall capacity of the Department of Defense to meet demand for executive aircraft.

(6) The total outlays of the Department of the Air Force for missions flown by executive aircraft of the Air Force, after factoring in reimbursements received from Government agencies supported, during the five fiscal years preceding the fiscal year in which the report is submitted, disaggregated by fiscal year and by account.

(7) The projected budgets for the executive aircraft of the Air Force through the future years defense program.

(8) A narrative description of how the Air Force plans and budgets for missions flown by executive aircraft.

(9) Any other information the Secretary considers to be important.

(b) Form.—The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex for the purposes of describing classified missions supported by the executive aircraft of the Air Force.

(a) Prohibition.—None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act for fiscal year 2024 for the Air Force may be obligated or expended to retire, prepare to retire, or place in storage or in backup aircraft inventory any E–3 aircraft if such actions would reduce the total aircraft inventory for such aircraft below 16.

(b) Exception for plan.—If the Secretary of the Air Force submits to the congressional defense committees a plan for maintaining readiness and ensuring there is no lapse in mission capabilities, the prohibition under subsection (a) shall not apply to actions taken to reduce the total aircraft inventory for E–3 aircraft to below 16, beginning 30 days after the date on which the plan is so submitted.

(c) Exception for E–7 procurement.—If the Secretary of the Air Force procures enough E–7 Wedgetail aircraft to accomplish the required mission load, the prohibition under subsection (a) shall not apply to actions taken to reduce the total aircraft inventory for E–3 aircraft to below 16 after the date on which such E–7 Wedgetail aircraft are delivered.

Section 834(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117–81; 10 U.S.C. 4061 note) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

“(3) The Secretary of Defense may waive the priority established pursuant to paragraph (1) for up to two solicitations for proposals per fiscal year.”.

(a) Policies required.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall develop and implement policies to establish the unified datalink strategy of the Department of Defense (in this section referred to as the “strategy”).

(2) ELEMENTS.—The policies required by paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A) The designation of an organization that will act as the lead coordinator of datalink activities across the entire Department of Defense.

(B) Prioritization and coordination across services of the strategy within the requirements generation process of the Department.

(C) The use of a common standardized datalink network or transport protocol that ensures interoperability between independently developed datalinks, regardless of physical medium used, and ensures mesh routing. The Secretary of Defense shall consider the use of a subset of Internet Protocol.

(D) A programmatic decoupling of the physical method used to transmit data, the network or transport protocols used in the transmission and reception of data, and the applications used to process and use data.

(E) The coordination of weapon systems executing the same mission types across services of the strategy, including through the use of a common set of datalink waveforms. The Secretary shall evaluate the use of redundant datalinks for line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight information exchange for each weapon systems platform.

(F) Coordination between the Department and the intelligence community (as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)) to leverage any efficiencies and overlap with existing datalink waveforms of the intelligence community.

(G) Methods to support the rapid integration of common datalinks across the force.

(H) Support for modularity of specific datalink waveforms to enable rapid integration of future datalinks, including the use of software defined radios compliant with modular open system architecture and sensor open system architecture.

(b) Information to Congress.—Not later than June 1, 2024, the Secretary of Defense shall provide to the congressional defense committees the following:

(1) A briefing on the proposed policies required by subsection (a)(1), with timelines for implementation.

(2) An estimated timeline of implementations of datalinks.

(3) A list of any additional resources and authorities required to execute the strategy.

(4) A determination of whether a common set of datalinks can and should be implemented across all major weapon systems within the Department of Defense.

(a) Report.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the decision to exercise options on an existing contract to use cybersecurity capabilities to protect assets and networks across the Department of Defense.

(2) ELEMENTS.—The report required by paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A) A description of the potential effects on innovation and competition among cybersecurity vendors of the decision to exercise the cybersecurity options on the contract described in paragraph (1).

(B) A description of the risks and benefits associated with an integrated enterprise-wide cybersecurity solution from a single vendor.

(C) A description of future plans of the Department of Defense to recompete the acquisition of integrated and interoperable cybersecurity tools and applications that would allow multiple vendors to compete separately and as teams.

(D) A copy of the analysis conducted by the Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation of the Department of the costs and effectiveness of the cybersecurity capabilities covered by the contract described in paragraph (1).

(E) A copy of the analysis conducted by the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation of the Department of the effectiveness of the cybersecurity capabilities covered by the contract described in paragraph (1) compared to other commercially available products and vendors.

(b) Briefing.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense shall brief the congressional defense committees on the plans of the Department to ensure competition and interoperability in the security and identity and access management product market segments.

Funds are hereby authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2024 for the use of the Department of Defense for research, development, test, and evaluation, as specified in the funding table in section 4201.

(a) Program guidance on planning for exportability features.—The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment shall ensure that program guidance is updated to integrate planning for exportability features called for by section 4067 of title 10, United States Code, for the following activities:

(1) Major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs) (as defined in section 4201 of title 10, United States Code), which shall include in the initial cost estimates for the programs a requirement to capture potential exportability needs.

(2) Middle tier acquisition (MTA) programs described in section 804(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114–92; 10 U.S.C. 3201 note prec.), which shall include an assessment of potential exportability needs prior to transition from rapid fielding or prototyping.

(b) Revision of guidance for program protection plans.—The Under Secretary shall revise guidance for program protection plans to integrate a requirement to determine exportability for the programs covered by such plans.

(a) Authority.—To the extent and in such amounts as provided in appropriations Acts for the purposes set forth in this section, the Secretary of Defense may, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, provide funds of not more than $15,000,000 per year to sustain the participation of the United States in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) Initiative (in this section the “Initiative”).

(b) Notification.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days after the date on which the Secretary makes a decision to provide funds pursuant to subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a written notification of such decision.

(2) CONTENTS.—Notification submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A) A detailed breakout of the funding provided.

(B) The intended purposes of such funds.

(C) The timeframe covered by such funds.

(c) Strategy.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than July 1, 2024, the Under Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a strategy for participation by the United States in the Initiative.

(2) CONTENTS.—The strategy submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A) A description for how the Initiative fits into the innovation ecosystem for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as well as how it is synchronized with and will interact with other science, technology, and innovation activities within the Department of Defense.

(B) Anticipated funding profile across the future years defense program (FYDP).

(C) Identification of key technology focus areas to be addressed each year across the future years defense program.

(D) Anticipated areas for expansion for key nodes or locations for the Initiative, including how the Initiative will contribute to fostering the spread of innovation throughout the United States.

(d) Annual report.—Not later than February 1, 2024, and February 1 of each year thereafter through 2026, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees an annual report for Department supported activities of the Initiative, including the breakdown of funding provided for the previous fiscal year, and key milestones or achievements during that timeframe.

(e) Sunset.—The authority provided by subsection (a) shall terminate on September 30, 2026.

Section 4092(b) of title 10, United States code is amended—

(1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking “of which not more than 5 such positions may be positions of administration or management of the Agency”; and

(2) in paragraph (4), by inserting “, including, upon separation, pay the travel, transportation, and relocation expenses to return to the location of origin, at the time of the initial appointment, within the United States” before the period at the end.

Section 218 of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)—

(A) in paragraph (1), by striking “The Commander of Naval Air Systems Command and the Director of Air Warfare shall jointly serve” and inserting “The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, acting through the Director of the Air Force Office of Concepts, Development, and Management Office, shall serve”; and

(B) in paragraph (2), by striking “The resource sponsors of the Program shall be responsible” and inserting “The resource sponsor, in consultation with the Commander of Naval Air Systems Command, shall be responsible”;

(2) in subsection (b), by striking “Only the Secretary of the Navy, the Under Secretary of the Navy, and the Commander of Naval Air Systems Command may” and inserting “Only the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security and the Director of the Air Force Concepts, Development, and Management Office, in consultation with the Commander of Naval Air Systems Command, may”; and

(3) in subsection (d)(3), by striking “exercised by the Commander of Naval Air Systems Command, the Secretary of the Navy, or the Under Secretary of the Navy” and inserting “exercised by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security and the Director of the Air Force Concepts, Development, and Management Office”.

Section 980(b) of title 10, United Stated Code, is amended—

(1) by inserting “(1)” before “The Secretary”; and

(2) by adding to the end the following new paragraph:

“(2) The Secretary may delegate the authority provided by paragraph (1) to the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.”.

(a) Program required.—The Secretary of Defense shall establish, not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, a program within the National Security Agency to develop and continuously update, as the Secretary determines necessary, standards, commercial best practices, and requirements for the design, manufacture, packaging, test, and distribution of microelectronics acquired by the Department of Defense to provide acceptable levels of confidentiality, integrity, and availability for Department commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) microelectronics, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and custom integrated circuits (CICs).

(b) Advice and assessment.—The Secretary shall ensure that the program established pursuant to subsection (a) is advised and assessed by the Government-Industry-Academia Working Group on Microelectronics established under section 220 of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263).

(c) Requirements.—The program established by subsection (a) shall develop—

(1) evidence-based assurance processes and techniques that sustain, build on, automate, and scale up the results and accomplishments of the Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes (RAMP), RAMP-Commercial (RAMP-C), and State-of-the-Art Heterogeneous Integrated Packaging (SHIP) programs to enhance the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of microelectronics while minimizing costs and impacts to commercial manufacturing practices;

(2) validation methods for such processes and techniques, in coordination with the developmental and operational test and evaluation community, as the Secretary determines necessary;

(3) threat models that comprehensively characterize the threat to microelectronics confidentiality, integrity, and availability across the entire supply chain, and the design, production, packaging, and deployment cycle to support risk management and risk mitigation, based on the principle of reducing risk to as low a level as reasonably practicable, including—

(A) comparative risk assessments; and

(B) balanced and practical investments in assurance based on risks and returns;

(4) levels of assurance and associated requirements for the production and acquisition of commercial-off-the-shelf integrated circuits, integrated circuits subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) under subchapter M of chapter I of title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, or successor regulations, and classified integrated circuits using commercial foundry manufacturing process flows;

(5) guides for Federal Government program evaluators, program offices, and industry to meet microelectronics assurance requirements; and

(6) guidance for the creation of a government organizational structure and plan to support the acquisition of fit-for-purpose microelectronics, including the role of the Defense Microelectronics Activity, the Crane Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, and the Joint Federated Assurance Center.

(d) Microelectronics assurance standard.—The program established pursuant to subsection (a) shall establish a Department microelectronics assurance standard that includes an overarching assurance framework as well as the guides developed under subsection (c)(5), for commercial-off-the-shelf integrated circuits, integrated circuits subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations under subchapter M of chapter I of title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, or successor regulations, and classified microelectronics developed under subsection (c)(4).

(e) Microelectronics Assurance Executive Agent.—The Secretary shall designate one individual from a military department as the Microelectronics Assurance Executive Agent to assist Federal Government program offices in acquiring fit-for-purpose microelectronics.

(f) Management of RAMP and SHIP programs.—Effective on the date of the establishment of the program required by subsection (a), such program shall assume management of the Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes, Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes-Commercial (RAMP-C), and State-of-the-Art Heterogeneous Integrated Packaging programs that were in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act and executed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

(g) Oversight.—The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering shall provide oversight of the planning and execution of the program required by subsection (a).

(h) Requirements for contracting for application-specific integrated circuits.—The Secretary shall ensure that, for contracts for application-specific integrated circuits designed by defense industrial base contractors—

(1) the use of evidence-based assurance processes and techniques are included in the contract data requirements list;

(2) commercial best industry practices for confidentiality, integrity, and availability are used;

(3) a library of certified third-party intellectual property is established for reuse, including reuse of transistor layouts, cells, and macrocells;

(4) legal mechanisms are in place for data collection and sharing; and

(5) automation technology is adopted to achieve efficiency.

Section 4124(f)(2) of title 10, United States Code, is amended—

(1) by striking “that assists” and inserting the following: “that—

“(A) assists”;

(2) in subparagraph (A), as designated by paragraph (1), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

(3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:

“(B) facilitates technology transfer from industry or academic institutions to the Center; or

“(C) assists and facilitates workforce development in critical technology areas and technology transition to fulfill unmet needs of a Center.”.

(a) Establishment.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall establish and carry out a prize competition under section 4025 of title 10, United States Code, to evaluate technology, including applications, tools, and models, for the detection and watermarking of generative artificial intelligence (AI)—

(A) to facilitate the research, development, testing, evaluation, and competition of secure generative artificial intelligence detection and watermark technologies that can support each Secretary of a military department and the commanders of combatant commands to support warfighting requirements; and

(B) to transition such technologies, including technologies developed from pilot programs, prototype projects, or other research and development programs, from the prototyping phase to production.

(2) PARTICIPATION.—The participants in the competition carried out pursuant to paragraph (1) may include Federally-funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), the private sector, the defense industrial base, academia, government agencies, and such other participants as the Secretary considers appropriate.

(3) COMMENCEMENT.—The competition will begin within 270 days of passage of this Act.

(4) DESIGNATION.—The competition established and carried out pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be known as the “Generative AI Detection and Watermark Competition”.

(b) Administration.—The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering shall administer the competition required by subsection (a).

(c) Framework.—Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall provide the congressional defense committees a briefing on the framework the Secretary will use to carry out the competition required by subsection (a).

(d) Annual reports.—Not later than October 1 of each year until the termination of the competition established and carried out under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the results of the competition.

(e) Definitions.—In this section:

(1) The term “detection” means a technology that can positively identify the presence of generative artificial intelligence in digital content.

(2) The term “watermarking” means embedding a piece of data onto detected artificial intelligence generated digital content, conveying attribution to the source generation.

(f) Termination.—The competition established and carried out pursuant to subsection (a) shall terminate on December 31, 2025.

(a) In general.—Not later than September 30, 2028, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments shall complete one or more prize competitions under section 4025 of title 10, United States Code, in order to support the business systems modernization goals of the Department of Defense.

(b) Scope.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Each prize competition carried out under subsection (a) shall be structured to complement, and to the degree practicable, accelerate delivery or expand functionality of business systems capabilities being pursued by the affected Secretary, either currently in operation, in development, or for broad classes of systems covered by the business enterprise architecture required by section 2222(e) of title 10, United States Code.

(2) AREAS FOR CONSIDERATION.—In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments shall each consider the following:

(A) Integration of artificial intelligence or machine learning capabilities.

(B) Data analytics or business intelligence, or related visualization capability.

(C) Automated updating of business architectures, business systems integration, or documentation related to existing systems or manuals.

(D) Improvements to interfaces or processes for interacting with other non-Department of Defense business systems.

(E) Updates or replacements for legacy business systems to improve operational effectiveness and efficiency, such as the Mechanization of Contract Administration Services (MOCAS).

(F) Contract writing systems or expanded capability that could be integrated into existing systems.

(G) Pay and personnel systems, or expanded capability, that could be integrated into existing systems.

(H) Other finance and accounting systems, or expanded capability, that could be integrated into existing systems.

(I) Systems supporting industrial base and supply chain visibility, analytics, and management.

(a) In general.—The Secretary of Defense shall, in consultation with the Deputy Secretary of Defense—

(1) establish and document procedures, including timelines, for the periodic review of the 2018 Department of Defense Artificial Intelligence Strategy, or any successor strategy, and associated annexes of the military departments to assess the implementation of the strategy and whether any revision is necessary;

(2) issue Department of Defense-wide guidance that defines outcomes of near-term and long-term strategies and plans relating to—

(A) the adoption of artificial intelligence;

(B) adoption and enforcement of policies on the ethical use of artificial intelligence systems; and

(C) the identification and mitigation of bias in artificial intelligence algorithms;

(3) issue Department-wide guidance regarding—

(A) methods to monitor accountability for artificial intelligence-related activity, including artificial intelligence performance indicators and metrics;

(B) means to enforce and update ethics policy and guidelines across all adopted artificial intelligence systems; and

(C) means to identify, monitor, and mitigate bias in artificial intelligence algorithms;

(4) develop a strategic plan for the development, use, and cybersecurity of generative artificial intelligence, including a policy for use of, and defense against adversarial use of, generative artificial intelligence;

(5) assess technical workforce needs across the future years defense plan to support the continued development of artificial intelligence capabilities, including recruitment and retention policies and programs;

(6) assess the availability and adequacy of the basic artificial intelligence training and education curricula available to the broader Department civilian workforce and military personnel to promote artificial intelligence literacy to the nontechnical workforce and senior leadership with responsibilities adjacent to artificial intelligence technical development;

(7) develop and issue a timeline and guidance for the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer of the Department and the Secretaries of the military departments to establish a common terminology for artificial intelligence-related activities;

(8) develop and implement a plan to protect and secure the integrity, availability, and privacy of artificial intelligence systems and models, including large language models, data libraries, data repositories, and algorithms, in training, development, and production environments;

(9) develop and implement a plan—

(A) to identify commercially available and relevant large language models; and

(B) to make those available, as appropriate, on classified networks;

(10) develop a plan to defend the people, organizations, and systems of the Department against adversarial artificial intelligence, including identification of organizations within the Department that could provide red teams capabilities for operational and developmental needs;

(11) develop and implement a policy for use by contracting officials to protect the intellectual property of commercial entities that provide their artificial intelligence algorithms to a Department repository established pursuant to section 232 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117–81; 10 U.S.C. 4001 note), including policy for how to address data rights in situations in which government and commercial intellectual property may be mixed when such artificial intelligence algorithms are deployed in an operational environment;

(12) issue guidance and directives for how the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer of the Department will exercise authority to access, control, and maintain, on behalf of the Secretary, data collected, acquired, accessed, or utilized by Department components consistent with section 1513 of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263; 10 U.S.C. 4001 note); and

(13) clarify guidance on the instances for and role of human intervention and oversight in the exercise of artificial intelligence algorithms for use in the generation of offensive or lethal courses of action for tactical operations.

(b) Due date for procedures, guidance, plans, assessment, and timelines.—

(1) DUE DATE.—The Secretary shall develop the procedures, guidance, plans, assessment, and timelines required under subsection (a) not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

(2) BRIEFING.—Not later than 150 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall provide to the congressional defense committees a briefing on the procedures, guidance, plans, assessment, and timelines established, issued, carried out, or developed under subsection (a).

(a) Demonstration required.—The Secretary shall carry out a demonstration of a joint multi-domain nonkinetic testing and training environment across military departments by interconnecting existing ranges and training sites in the western States to improve joint multi-domain nonkinetic training and further testing, research, and development.

(b) Use of existing ranges and capabilities.—The demonstration carried out pursuant to subsection (a) shall use existing ranges and range capability, unless capability gaps are identified in the process of planning specific demonstration activities.

(c) Activities.—The demonstration carried out pursuant to subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) Electromagnetic spectrum operations.

(2) Electromagnetic warfare.

(3) Operations in the information environment.

(4) Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2).

(5) Information warfare, including the following:

(A) Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

(B) Offensive and defense cyber operations.

(C) Electromagnetic warfare.

(D) Space operations.

(E) Psychological operations.

(F) Public affairs.

(G) Weather operations.

(d) Timeline for completion of initial demonstration.—In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall seek to complete an initial demonstration, interconnecting two or more ranges or testing sites of two or more military departments in the western States, subject to availability of appropriations, not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(e) Briefing.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall provide the congressional defense committees a briefing on—

(1) a phased implementation plan and design to connect ranges and testing sites in the western States, including the initial demonstration required by subsection (d);

(2) how the design architecture of the plan is in alignment with recommendations of the 2020 Department of Defense Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy; and

(3) how the design architecture will support high-periodicity training, testing, research, and development.

(f) Definition.—In this section:

(1) INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT.—The term “information environment” means the aggregate of individuals, organizations, and systems that collect, process, and disseminate, or act on information.

(2) SECRETARY.—The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Defense.

(g) Termination.—This section shall terminate on September 30, 2028.

(a) In general.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the feasibility and advisability of establishing a quantum computing innovation center within the Department of Defense—

(1) to identify and pursue the development of quantum computing applications to enhance military operations;

(2) to harness the talent and skills of physicists and scientists within the Department to develop quantum computing applications; and

(3) to coordinate and synchronize quantum computing research across the Department.

(b) Elements.—The report required under subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) An assessment of the ongoing activities of the Department that are part of the National Quantum Initiative.

(2) An evaluation of the plans of the Department to develop quantum computing, sensing, and networking applications.

(3) The level of funding and resources invested by the Department to enable quantum military applications.

(4) Any established metrics or performance indicators to track the progress of quantum technology developments.

(5) The extent to which the Department is partnering with commercial entities engaging in quantum research and development.

(6) An evaluation of any plans establishing how commercial advances in quantum technology can be leveraged for military operations.

(7) An assessment of the maturity of United States competitor efforts to develop quantum applications for adversarial use.

(8) An assessment of any processes to harmonize or coordinate activities across the Department to develop quantum computing applications.

(9) An evaluation of any Department-issued policy guidance regarding quantum computing applications.

(10) An evaluation of any Department plans to defend against adversarial use of quantum computing applications.

(a) In general.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering shall, in consultation with the Office of General Counsel of the Department of Defense and the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, provide to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a briefing on the impediments to the transition of the Semantic Forensics program to operational use.

(b) Elements.—The briefing provided pursuant to subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) Identification of policy and legal challenges associated with the transition described in subsection (a) and implementation of the Semantic Forensics program, including with respect to the use and operational testing of publicly available information.

(2) Identification of other Federal agencies with legal authorities that may be able to resolve the challenges identified pursuant to paragraph (1).

(3) Recommendations for legislative or administrative action to mitigate the challenges identified pursuant to paragraph (1).

(a) In general.—Not later than March 1 of fiscal year 2024 and March 1 of each of fiscal year thereafter through 2030, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees an annual report on funding and investments of the Department of Defense relating to hypersonic capabilities, including with respect to procurement, research, development, operations, and maintenance of offensive and defensive hypersonic weapons.

(b) Requirements.—Each report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall—

(1) include cost data on the vehicles, testing, hypersonic sensors, command and control architectures, infrastructure, testing infrastructure, software, workforce, training, ranges, integration costs, and such other items as the Secretary considers appropriate;

(2) disaggregate information reported by offensive and defensive hypersonic capabilities;

(3) for research relating to hypersonic capabilities, include the program element and the name of the entity that is conducting the research, a description of the purpose of the research, and any Uniform Resource Locators to weapon programs associated with the research; and

(4) to the degree applicable, include all associated hypersonic program elements and line items.

(c) Form.—Each report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.

(a) Limitation.—Of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act for fiscal year 2024 for travel for the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, not more than 85 percent may be obligated or expended until the Secretary of Defense submits to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives supporting justification material underpinning the decision to cease current modernization efforts for the Defense Travel System (DTS), and a plan going forward for modernizing or replacing such system

(b) Contents.—The justification material and plan described in subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) The documentation from the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) justifying cancellation of the current modernization contract, including—

(A) specific metrics used to make that determination;

(B) a timeline for decisions leading to the final cancellation;

(C) notification from the military departments when they were unable to make the desired usage rates using the current modernization prototype;

(D) identification of system requirements for audit readiness, as well as interface needs for other enterprise resource planning systems, in the current modernization contract; and

(E) alternatives considered prior to cancellation.

(2) An assessment by the Cost Assessment of Program Evaluation office comparing—

(A) costs of continuing with the current modernization prototype across the future years defense plan (FYDP); and

(B) costs of sustainment of the Defense Travel System across the future years defense plan, factoring potential costs of restarting modernization efforts.

(3) A description from the Milestone Decision Authority on what the current plan is for modernizing the Defense Travel System, including timelines and potential costs.

(a) In general.—Chapter 9 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 222d the following new section:

(b) Clerical amendment.—The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 9 of such title is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 222d the following new item:

“222e. Annual report on unfunded priorities for research, development, test, and evaluation activities.”.

(a) In general.—The Commander of Air Force Global Strike Command may, through the use of a partnership intermediary, establish a program—

(1) to carry out technology transition, digital engineering projects, and other innovation activities supporting the Air Force nuclear enterprise; and

(2) to discover capabilities that have the potential to generate life-cycle cost savings and provide data-driven approaches to resource allocation.

(b) Termination.—The program established under subsection (a) shall terminate on September 30, 2029.

(c) Partnership intermediary defined.—The term “partnership intermediary” has the meaning given the term in section 23(c) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3715(c)).

(a) In general.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall—

(1) review the current investment into applications of artificial intelligence to the platforms, processes, and operations of the Department of Defense; and

(2) categorize the types of artificial intelligence investments by categories including but not limited to the following:

(A) Automation.

(B) Machine learning.

(C) Autonomy.

(D) Robotics.

(E) Deep learning and neural network.

(F) Natural language processing.

(b) Report to Congress.—Not later than 120 days after the completion of the review and categorization required by subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on—

(1) the findings of the Secretary with respect to the review and any action taken or proposed to be taken by the Secretary to address such findings; and

(2) an evaluation of how the findings of the Secretary align with stated strategies of the Department of Defense with regard to artificial intelligence and performance objectives established in the Department of Defense Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence Adoption Strategy.

Funds are hereby authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2024 for the use of the Armed Forces and other activities and agencies of the Department of Defense for expenses, not otherwise provided for, for operation and maintenance, as specified in the funding table in section 4301.

Section 332(b) of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 110–417; 10 U.S.C. 2911 note) is amended—

(1) by striking “The Secretary of Defense” and inserting the following:

“(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense”; and

(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

“(2) WAIVER OF FUEL EFFICIENCY KEY PERFORMANCE PARAMETER.—

“(A) IN GENERAL.—The fuel efficiency key performance parameter implemented under paragraph (1) may be waived for a system only if such waiver is approved by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

“(B) NONDELEGATION.—The waiver authority under subparagraph (A) may not be delegated.”.

(a) Codification of existing statute.—Section 317 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115–91; 10 U.S.C. 2684a note) is amended—

(1) by transferring such section to appear after section 2692 of title 10, United States Code;

(2) by redesignating such section as section 2693; and

(3) by amending the section heading to read as follows:

(b) Improvements to Sentinel Landscapes Partnership program.—Section 2693 of title 10, United States Code, as transferred and redesignated by subsection (a), is further amended—

(1) in subsection (a), by striking “and the Secretary of the Interior” and inserting “, the Secretary of the Interior, and the heads of other Federal departments and agencies that elect to become full partners”;

(2) in subsection (b), by striking “and the Secretary of the Interior, may, as the Secretaries” and inserting “the Secretary of the Interior, and the heads of other Federal departments and agencies that elect to become full partners may, as they”;

(3) by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

“(c) Coordination of activities.—The Secretaries and the heads of Federal departments and agencies, in carrying out this section, may coordinate actions between their departments and agencies and with other Federal, State, interstate, and local agencies, Indian Tribes, and private entities to more efficiently work together for the mutual benefit of conservation, resilience, working lands, and national defense, and to encourage owners and managers of land to engage in voluntary land management, resilience, and conservation activities that contribute to the sustainment of military installations, State-owned National Guard installations, and associated airspace.”;

(4) in subsection (d)—

(A) by striking the first sentence and inserting “The Secretaries and the heads of Federal departments and agencies, in carrying out this section, may give to any eligible owner or manager of land within a designated sentinel landscape priority consideration for participation in any easement, grant, or assistance programs administered by that Secretary or head.”; and

(B) in the second sentence, by striking “eligible landowner or agricultural producer” and inserting “eligible owner or manager of land”; and

(5) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g);

(6) by inserting after subsection (e) the following new subsection (f):

“(f) Rule of construction.—Nothing in this section may be construed to require an owner or manager of land, including a private landowner or agricultural producer, to participate in any land management, resilience, or conservation activity under this section.”;

(7) in subsection (g), as redesigned by paragraph (5)—

(A) in paragraph (1), by striking “ section 670(1) of title 16, United States Code” and inserting “ section 100(1) of the Sikes Act (16 U.S.C. 670(1))”;