S.Amdt. 5876

This amendment, known as the Unmanned System Command and Control Integration Assessment Act of 2026, adds a new subtitle to bill S. 4784. Its purpose is to require the Secretary of Defense to conduct a comprehensive assessment of open-architecture frameworks used to command and control unmanned systems.

The amendment aims to add the following requirements to the bill:

• Operational Assessment: The Secretary must evaluate unmanned system command and control frameworks, specifically reviewing systems from Ukraine (Delta battlefield management) and Israel (Multiple Drone Operating System).

• Evaluation Criteria: The assessment must analyze technical architectures, cybersecurity resilience, interoperability with existing Department of Defense systems, and the ability to adapt to future technologies like AI and swarming.

• Independent Oversight: It establishes an independent advisory panel of 10 to 15 members with expertise in operations, software architecture, and cybersecurity to provide technical guidance.

• Accountability and Reporting: The Secretary must submit an interim report within 180 days and a final report within one year. This final report must determine if an open-architecture framework is feasible, necessary, and cost-effective. For five years after the final report, the Secretary must provide annual updates to Congress on actions taken.

• Cybersecurity Mandates: Any recommended framework must use a modular open systems architecture, comply with NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, and undergo penetration testing by an NSA-certified red team every two years. It strictly prohibits the use of hardware or software from entities on the FCC Covered List or the Department of Defense Covered Foreign Entity list.

• Inter-Agency Coordination: The Secretary must coordinate with existing Department programs to avoid duplicating efforts and share unclassified findings with the Federal Aviation Administration to help with civil unmanned aircraft traffic management.