WASHINGTON, D.C. – Led by Chairman Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) and Ranking Member Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), the Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces today released their proposals for the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Subcommittee will meet at 9:00am ET on Thursday, June 9 in Rayburn 2118 and via the WebEx platform. The markup will be live streamed on the committee’s website. The Subcommittee's mark is available here.  

Specifically, this year's proposal includes the following:

Legislative Provisions:
  • Requires the Secretary of the Navy to provide a briefing on the cost, schedule, and testing of the CH-53K helicopter program on a quarterly basis through fiscal year 2024.
  • Authorizes the Department of the Navy to enter one or more contracts for procurement of the CH-53K helicopter and its associated engine over fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
  • Requires a study on the requirements for the Air Force combat search and rescue mission to meet the objectives of the most recent National Defense Strategy and the development of an acquisition strategy to meet the requirements identified.
  • Eliminates the requirement for the Air Force to provide not fewer than 6 E-8 (JSTARS) aircraft each year through the Global Force Management Allocation Process.
  • Requires the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, in coordination with the Secretaries of the military services, to assess the military rotary wing industrial base and provide a report to Congress.
  • Requires the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force to each submit reports annually on the plans and progress made with respect to the installation of safety upgrades to their respective High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle fleets.
 
The mark includes direction that the Department provide reports or briefings on a variety of important issues including:
  • Directs the Secretary of the Army to submit a report regarding the plan to implement a program of record to fill the gap in ISR capabilities, including for high-altitude capabilities, to meet validated ISR mission requirements.
  • Directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology to submit a report on plans to reduce risk to the tactical missile industrial base and supply chain, specific risks to the current stockpiles, and potential options for surging production capacity to address shortfalls in the United States and allies’ anti-air and anti-tank inventory.
  • Directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology to provide a briefing on the Army’s efforts to modernize the TOW missile system.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Army to provide a briefing on the state of the small arms industrial base and options to sustain the small arms industrial base through the upgrade of legacy systems, such as replacing the existing inventory of M240B medium machine guns.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Army, in coordination with the Secretary of the Navy, to provide a briefing on updating military requirements for soft body armor.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Army to submit a report on plans to ensure appropriate evaluation and certification of Army modular open systems architecture (MOSA) standards.
  • Directs the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to provide a briefing on the Department’s plans for government and commercially developed next-generation integrated sensor and communication technologies.
  • Directs the Secretary of Defense to submit a report on plans to secure, fund, and stabilize textile industrial base capabilities.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Navy, in consultation with the Commander of U.S. European Command and the Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, to provide a briefing on the Navy’s plan to ensure the tactical relevance and survivability of the F/A-18 E/F with an advanced electronic warfare (ADVEW) suite.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to submit a report on implementation of the MQ-9 multi-domain operations upgrade program to include the budget and schedule for each portion of the multi-domain operations modernization effort through the FYDP.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to submit a report regarding the planned reduction of advanced training aircraft capacity of the Air Force.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to provide a briefing on efforts to field a non-developmental, high-fidelity, full-effective radiated power, X-band threat emitter capability that would be suitable for aircrew training.
  • Directs the Secretary of Defense to submit a report on the utility and potential cost savings of coordinating and consolidating the development and procurement of degraded visual environment software data fusion across the services.
  • Directs the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing on current and future planned efforts to provide tactical units unmanned aircraft systems with designating and marking capability to enable the use of precision targeting and munitions.
  • Directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology to provide a report on the Army’s development and acquisition strategy for autonomous ground vehicles.
  • Directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology to provide a report on the requirements and plans for the development and acquisition of autonomous robotic targets for small arms training.
  • Directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, in coordination with the Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, to submit a report on the results of government and commercial industry development and testing and the practical application or fielding of graphite composite and graphitic carbon foam components for existing or developmental combat or tactical vehicles.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Army to provide a report to the House Committee on Armed Services not later than December 23, 2022, that details the Army’s acquisition strategy for a common tactical truck.
  • Directs the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, in coordination with the Program Executive Officer Soldier and the Commander of Marine Corps Systems Command, to provide a briefing on processes in place to ensure future body-worn systems are evaluated for fit and appropriate wear through the 98th percentile of all possible sizes.
  • Directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology to provide a briefing on the advisability, feasibility, and estimated cost of establishing a program to test autonomy on Stryker vehicles. 
  • Directs the Secretary of the Army to provide a report on the advisability, feasibility, and estimated cost of conducting a tactical vehicle electrification pilot program through a CRADA-like structure with industry to experiment, demonstrate, and capture lessons learned from mature vehicle electrification technologies and associate integrated infrastructure.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Navy to provide a briefing on the status of U.S. Navy-cooperative partner collaboration on next generation jammer development.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Navy to provide a briefing on the Navy’s efforts to develop persistent, ultra-long endurance, attritable Group III ISR systems.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Air Force, in coordination with the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the Army, to provide a report on the required timelines to achieve a fieldable and relevant unmanned autonomous system to team with and augment the current and future piloted aviation force.
  • Directs the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, in coordination with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Education and Training, to provide a briefing on the Department of Defense's overall plan to field joint, interoperable, blended live, virtual, and constructive training environments.
  • Directs the Secretary of the Air Force, in coordination with the Secretary of the Navy, to provide a report on any plans to include autonomy software in their respective next generation air dominance family of systems initiatives. 
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