SkyFoundry Program

(a) Establishment (1) Program required The Secretary of Defense shall establish a program to encourage the rapid development, testing, and scalable manufacturing of small unmanned aircraft systems and components, with potential expansion to associated energetics and other autonomous systems as determined by the Secretary, leveraging existing competencies within the commercial sector and the Department of Defense organic industrial base. (2) Designation The program established pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be known as the SkyFoundry Program (in this section the Program). (3) Administration The Secretary of Defense shall— (A) administer the Program through the Secretary of the Army; and (B) establish the Program as part of the Defense Industrial Resilience Consortium. (b) Alternative acquisition mechanism In carrying out the Program, the Secretary of Defense shall prioritize alternative acquisition mechanisms to accelerate development and production, including— (1) other transaction authority under section 4022 of title 10, United States Code; (2) middle tier of acquisition pathway for rapid prototyping and rapid fielding as authorized by section 3602 of such title; and (3) software acquisition pathway as authorized by section 3603 of such title. (c) Components The Program shall have two components as follows: (1) Innovation facility An innovation facility for the development of small unmanned aircraft systems. The facility may be operated by United States Special Operations Command in collaboration with United States Army Materiel Command, serving as the research, development, and testing hub, integrating lessons learned from global conflicts to rapidly evolve United States small unmanned aircraft systems designs in partnership with contractor entities. (2) Production facility The Commander of United States Army Materiel Command shall identify a production facility with the competencies for producing various forms of small unmanned aircraft systems and components of small unmanned aircraft systems. The facility shall be operated by United States Army Materiel Command in collaboration with industry partners to enable scalable production as needed. (d) Public-private partnership model To support the Program, the Secretary may leverage authorities, including section 2474 of title 10, United States Code, to foster voluntary public-private partnerships. Such partnerships may include— (1) agreements with private industry, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations in support of the Program; and (2) innovative arrangements that allow industry partners to utilize government facilities and equipment, such as co-located hybrid teams of military, civilian, and contractor personnel, to promote technology transfer, workforce development, and surge capacity. (e) Facilities and infrastructure (1) In general In carrying out the Program, the Secretary shall prioritize utilizing or modifying existing Army Depot facilities and select at least two separate sites for the Program, one to house the innovation facility required by paragraph (1) of subsection (c) and one to house the production facility required by paragraph (2) of such subsection. (2) Authority to renovate, expand, and construct The Secretary may renovate, expand, or construct facilities for the Program using available funds, notwithstanding chapter 169 of title 10, United States Code. (3) Selection of sites When selecting sites for the Program, the Secretary shall consider that the production facility required by subsection (c)(2) shall be housed at an existing Army Depot. (f) Intellectual property rights The Secretary shall ensure that any public-private partnership established under this section provides the United States delivery of technical data and rights in technical data for any systems or technologies developed under the Program using Federal Government funding in accordance with sections 3771 through 3775 of title 10, United States Code. (g) Defense Production Act designation The President (or the Secretary of Defense under delegated authority) may use authorities under title III of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4531 et seq.) to support domestic industrial base capacity for small unmanned aircraft systems and associated energetics and autonomous systems.