Maritime redundant and resilient communications

(a) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that— (1) the scale and complexity of modern warfare will require each military service to invest in resilient network management to ensure information can be sensed, processed and understood, and acted upon to enable critical operations; (2) edge computing is essential to tenets of Joint All-Domain Command and Control (in this section referred to as the JADC2) and the JADC2 cross-service procurement programs, such as Project Overmatch, Advanced Battle Management System, and Project Convergence, to allow for real-time decision-making when immediate action is vital, rather than relying on centralized data centers or the cloud; (3) the Chief of Naval Operations has identified resilient data integrity and distribution as an unfunded priority for fiscal year 2026, with a focus on enabling warfighters to execute fight from the maritime operations center (in this section referred to as the MOC) scenarios; (4) experimentation underway by the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic and the United States Fourth Fleet on behalf of United States Naval Forces Southern Command would provide MOCs with machine-assisted dynamic bandwidth allocation and advanced computing power throughout their network architecture to manage vast hybrid sensor constellations conducting activity-based maritime domain awareness; (5) if successful, the project would significantly enhance hybrid fleet operations and network resilience, while significantly increasing the scale and complexity of operations that a MOC can support; and (6) the Secretary of the Navy, in collaboration with the commander of United States Naval Forces Southern Command, and the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, should initiate planning for follow-on phases in which advanced capabilities for agile communications, remote asset management, and disconnected operations support will demonstrate even greater resiliency and decision superiority. (b) Evaluation (1) In general The Secretary of the Navy, in coordination with the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit shall evaluate the experimentation described in subsection (a) that is underway in the United States Fourth Fleet. (2) Report to congress (A) In general Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Navy shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the results of the evaluation conducted under paragraph (1). (B) Contents The report shall— (i) summarize the status of such experimentation, including the relationship and benefit to Project Overmatch; (ii) provide a schedule for any further development, testing, and production necessary for fielding and deployment of edge computing and enterprise network management capability to all United States fleets, prioritizing heavily-sensored theaters, such as the Indo-Pacific and United States Central Command, and the funding required for each phase; (iii) identify a Department of Defense activity responsible for program management; and (iv) recommend an acquisition strategy, including establishment of a program of record, to accelerate fielding to the maximum extent practicable.