Briefing on low cost, platform agnostic autonomy modules for sUAS

(a) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that— (1) there is a growing operational need for rapidly deployable, low cost, and attritable small unmanned aerial systems (in this section referred to as sUAS) capable of executing autonomous strike and reconnaissance missions; (2) commercial sector advances now allow advanced artificial intelligence-enabled autonomy to run on inexpensive, widely fielded hardware, such as ruggedized Net Warrior Android based devices, mounted onto off the shelf drones; (3) these capabilities can convert low cost platforms into autonomous delivery or one way attack systems without requiring complex or costly payload integration; (4) it is encouraging that emerging platform agnostic autonomy kits that leverage onboard sensors and processors from commercially available devices to enable navigation, target recognition, and terminal engagement for sUAS operating in contested environments; and (5) these capabilities offer the Department a rapid, scalable means of fielding attritable systems at a fraction of traditional cost. (b) Briefing Not later than December 1, 2026, the Secretary of Defense shall provide to the congressional defense committees a briefing on opportunities to accelerate development and acquisition of low cost, platform agnostic autonomy modules for sUAS. The briefing shall include each of the following: (1) A survey of commercially derived autonomy solutions that can be integrated onto inexpensive, non proprietary hardware. (2) An assessment of Department of Defense integration pathways for enabling autonomous weapons delivery or ISR missions on off the shelf drones. (3) Recommendations for rapid fielding, demonstrations, or procurement approaches that would allow the Services to acquire and deploy such capabilities at scale.