119-s2506

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2506 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2506

 To require the Secretary of Defense to establish and carry out a 
 program to enable the rapid development, testing, and scalable 
manufacture of small unmanned aircraft systems, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 July 29, 2025

 Mr. Cruz (for himself, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Cornyn) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
 Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To require the Secretary of Defense to establish and carry out a 
 program to enable the rapid development, testing, and scalable 
manufacture of small unmanned aircraft systems, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``SkyFoundry Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. SKYFOUNDRY PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--

    (1) Program required.--The Secretary of Defense shall 
 establish and carry out a program to enable the rapid 
 development, testing, and scalable manufacture of small 
 unmanned aircraft systems, with potential expansion to 
 associated energetics and other autonomous systems as 
 determined by the Secretary.

    (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 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 shall leverage alternative acquisition 
mechanisms to accelerate development and production. Such mechanisms 
shall include the use of other transaction authority under 

section 4022 
of title 10, United States Code, and the use of the middle tier of 
acquisition pathway for rapid prototyping and rapid fielding as 
authorized by 

section 3602 of such title.
            (c) Components.--The Program shall have two components as follows:

    (1) Innovation facility.--A Government-owned innovation 
 facility for the development of small unmanned aircraft systems 
 that is operated by the United States Army Materiel Command in 
 coordination with United States Futures Command and serves as 
 the research, development, and testing hub, integrating lessons 
 learned from global conflicts to rapidly evolve United States 
 small unmanned aircraft systems designs.

    (2) Production facility.--The Commander of United States 
 Army Materiel Command shall identify a Government-owned 
 production facility with the competencies for producing various 
 forms of small unmanned aircraft systems. The facility shall be 
 operated by United States Army Materiel Command and have the 
 capability to produce 1,000,000 small unmanned aircraft systems 
 annually once fully established.
            (d) Government-Owned Government-Operated Contractor Augmented 
Model.--The Secretary may--

    (1) enter into multiyear contracts or agreements for 
 contractor augmented support to the Program, including 
 integrating specialized contractor personnel within Program 
 facilities as part of hybrid teams alongside military and 
 civilian personnel; and

    (2) enter into public-private partnership agreements with 
 private industry, academic institutions, and nonprofit entities 
 in support of the Program.

    (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 
 subsection

    (b)

    (1) and one to house the production facility 
 required by subsection

    (b)

    (2) .

    (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

    (b)

    (2) shall be housed at an 
 existing Army Depot that meets the following requirements:
        (A) The Army Depot shall be comprised of 15,000 
 acres of land.
        (B) The Army Depot shall have approximately 10,000 
 buildable acres of land.
            (C) The Army Depot shall have approximately 
 8,000,000 square feet of facilities.
            (D) The Army Depot shall be located within 50 miles 
 of four States.

    (f) Intellectual Property Rights.--The Secretary shall ensure that 
the United States retains appropriate intellectual property and 
technical data rights for any systems or technologies developed under 
the Program. At a minimum, the Secretary shall secure Government 
purpose rights in intellectual property developed jointly with 
contractors, to enable the Government's continued production, 
sustainment, modification, and competitive procurement of such systems.

    (g) Defense Production Act Designation.--The President (or the 
Secretary of Defense under delegated authority) shall utilize 
authorities under title III of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 
U.S.C. 4531 et seq.) to prioritize and support domestic industrial base 
capacity for small unmanned aircraft systems and associated energetics 
and autonomous systems. Such items shall be deemed essential for the 
national defense industrial base, and Title III efforts may include 
investments in production scale-up, establishment of strategic 
materials stockpiles, and surge manufacturing capacity for these 
systems and components.

    (h) Expedited Approvals and Waivers.--The Secretary, or the 
Secretary of the Army under explicit delegated authority, may expedite, 
and as appropriate to waive or modify Department of Defense regulatory 
requirements and internal procedures that would otherwise impede the 
rapid development, acquisition, or production activities of the 
Program.
 <all>