Commercial satellite imagery, autonomy, and Golden Dome would all get a big boost under the version of the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the House on Tuesday night. The policy bill also seeks more congressional oversight for how the Pentagon handles less formal contracts and outreach to tech firms, and bolsters U.S. forces in Europe and support for Ukraine.
On satellite imagery, the bill pushes the Air Force to adopt the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking—orTacSRT—effort as a formal program of record, which means the Air Force must fund it every year out of its budget. The program allows different entities across the Pentagon to send task orders to commercial satellite imagery companies directly (on their own dime), which resulted in much faster and better intelligence in 2024 as the military withdrew from bases in Niger and oversaw construction of a floating pier to deliver aid in Gaza.
The bill also gives a big nod to Golden Dome, calling on the Defense Department to construct a missile defense shield that could “deter, and defend [United States’] citizens and critical infrastructure…against any foreign aerial attack on the homeland.” The change may seem small, but it’s actually quite significant. The Pentagon already maintains about 44 missile interceptors in Alaska and California, which are capable of dealing with a missile threat from a nation like Iran or North Korea, but not nearly enough to shoot down all the missiles that Russia or China could launch in the event of an attack. “Any” in the bill’s language provides a mandate to actually build the Golden Dome as envisioned.
The bill also includes a potentially controversial measure mandating the Defense Department study how to use AI to enhance not just data collection and analysis but specifically to find targets. The study, which would be due next April, would explore “AI capabilities for potential use in exercises or operations that would improve the accuracy of military targeting, to include locating, identifying, and analyzing such targets to minimize collateral damage and civilian harm.” It also asks the Pentagon to come up with ways it can “accelerate the integration of autonomy-enabling software into programs,” using middle-tier acquisition programs.
Increasingly, the Defense Department is reaching out to new technology players and using less formal, faster contract vehicles like Other Transaction Authority contracts, or OTAs—smaller contracts with fewer regulatory requirements.
Congress has been genuinely supportive of the trend, because it speeds up acquisition and allows for new contractors. Section 1831 of the House version of the bill removes some limitations on who OTA contracts can go to, allowing them to go to any firm that “demonstrated performance and the alignment of [a solution’s] capability with [DOD’s] needs.” Previously, a non-traditional defense contractor had to be on the team, and/or the contract needed certain cost-sharing provisions.
But the new bill makes clear that Congress still wants oversight. Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y. added an amendment mandating a report on how OTAs have been used, going back to 2022.
Finally, section 1811 of the bill changes the Joint Requirements Oversight Council—the group of senior military officers that approves requirements for major new service programs across the Defense Department—into a body that does not, in fact, draft or oversee requirements. The bill describes the JROC’s influence on Pentagon procurement as an “overly protracted process that has neither streamlined time-to-delivery nor facilitated adequate responsiveness to the combatant commands.” It suggests an aggressive reframing into a body focused on “identifying and promoting solutions in a nonprescriptive manner to joint operational problems.”
It’s an idea championed by many in the defense establishment for years, including JROC members themselves.
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