S. 4930 — Unmanned System Command and Control Integration Assessment Act of 2026

This section directs the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other specified Defense officials, to commence within 180 days of enactment a comprehensive assessment of open-architecture unmanned system command and control frameworks. The assessment must review Ukraine’s Delta battlefield management system and Israel’s Multiple Drone Operating System, and address their technical architectures, interoperability with Department systems, cybersecurity resilience in contested environments, and capacity to support future autonomous and AI-enabled unmanned systems.

This section establishes an independent advisory panel of 10 to 15 members within 60 days of enactment to review and recommend on an unmanned aircraft systems assessment. The panel must include at least two members each with joint UAS operational experience, open-architecture software expertise, cybersecurity experience in contested environments, and allied-country UAS command experience, plus one with UAS traffic management expertise in the National Airspace System. No more than two-thirds of members may be active federal employees. The panel terminates 90 days after the final report and compensates non-government members at the daily Executive Schedule level IV rate plus travel expenses.

This section requires the Secretary to submit to the congressional defense committees an interim report within 180 days on the status of the assessment of allied and partner unmanned systems frameworks, including additional frameworks reviewed and preliminary interoperability findings, and a final report within one year containing a determination on the feasibility of a Department open-architecture command and control framework, with recommendations, a phased roadmap, and a classified annex as appropriate. It mandates unclassified reports with public release within 30 days and annual updates for five years on actions taken, relevant framework changes, emerging technologies or threats, and related pilot or acquisition activities.

This section requires any unmanned system command and control framework recommended in the final report under section 4(b), and any system developed or procured under it, to employ a modular open systems architecture, apply supply chain risk management across asset lifecycles, comply with NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 and related publications, maintain a documented vulnerability disclosure policy with defined response times, and undergo penetration testing by an NSA-certified red team at least every two years with findings reported to the Principal Cyber Advisor and congressional defense committees. It prohibits incorporation of any software, hardware, or services from entities on the FCC Covered List or the Department of Defense Covered Foreign Entity list. It directs the Secretary, in coordination with the NSA Director, CISA Director, and Department CIO, to establish a process for reviewing and updating the standards at least every 18 months.

This section requires the Secretary of Defense to assess compatibility of the unmanned system command and control framework with all current Department command and control modernization programs of record and to update the assessment as the portfolio evolves. It directs the Secretary to determine whether existing programs can be extended or adapted to meet the capability without a new system and to include that determination in the final report. It also requires the assessment to account for domestic small unmanned aircraft systems industrial base remediation efforts under section 914 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, ensuring compatibility with platforms produced through those programs.

This section directs the Secretary to transmit to the Federal Aviation Administration Administrator, within 30 days after submittal of the final report under section 4(b), an unclassified summary of findings and recommendations on open architecture for unmanned system command and control, cybersecurity standards, technical standards for military-civil interoperability in shared airspace, and lessons from allied countries on unified airspace management. It also requires the Administrator to submit a written assessment of the findings' relevance to civil unmanned aircraft systems integration activities and any intended actions to the congressional defense committees and specified House and Senate committees within 180 days.

This section defines terms used in the Act. It establishes meanings for "command and control framework," "modular open systems architecture," and "open architecture," and it adopts existing statutory definitions for "congressional defense committees," "Department," and "Secretary."