S.Amdt. 3644

This amendment, submitted by Mr. Hoeven, aims to add a new section to bill S. 2296 to create the Enhancing Cooperation for Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program. This is a pilot program where the Secretary of the Air Force and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration work together to use civilian airspace sensor networks within Air Force data processing systems.

The purpose of this addition is to:

• Improve the defense of Department of Defense installations against small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS).
• Help develop counter-unmanned aircraft system capabilities for use in the national airspace system and inside the United States.
• Increase cooperation with other Federal departments, agencies, and state and local law enforcement to deal with domestic threats.

The program will be tested at no fewer than two Department of Defense installations in the United States. It focuses on demonstrating if shared data from civilian networks can improve situational awareness and extend the identification of sUAS threats beyond the range of current defense systems.

The Secretary of the Air Force is authorized to contract for technologies that can use off-the-shelf systems and integrate civilian data for early warnings of non-compliant sUAS. The program is set to end five years after the Act is enacted, unless the Secretary requests an earlier termination.