Report on communications degradation

(a) Report Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report containing— (1) an assessment on the degradation of radio transmission or reception between Department of Defense aircraft and air traffic controllers or other aircraft operating in the national airspace system; (2) an identification of factors that may contribute to such degradation; and (3) an assessment of potential actions to remediate such degradation. (b) Plan Not later than 90 days after the date on which the Secretary submits to the congressional defense committees a copy of the memorandum under section 2656 of title 10, United States Code, as added by section 201 of this title, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a plan to leverage major avionics upgrades or depot-level maintenance associated with the installation or provision of collision prevention technology to upgrade communications systems in Department of Defense aircraft (particularly with respect to manned rotary wing aircraft), for the purpose of improving the clarity and reliability of transmissions to and from such aircraft. (c) Definitions In this section, the terms collision prevention technology and Department of Defense aircraft have the meanings given such terms in section 2655 of title 10, United States Code, as added by section 201 of this title.