S.Amdt. 4489

SA 4489. Mr. RISCH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed to
the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place in title XII, insert the
following:

SEC. __. AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO A COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT TO
PROTECT CIVILIANS IN SAUDI ARABIA AND THE
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES FROM WEAPONIZED UNMANNED
AERIAL SYSTEMS.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Houthis in Yemen have significantly intensified the
number of cross-border strikes against the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia since January 2021, using a combination of
increasingly sophisticated Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAVs) and
cruise missiles to target civilian infrastructure, bases,
commercial shipping, and major population centers across the
Kingdom with unprecedented frequency.
(2) The United Nations has noted the Houthis have deployed
extended long-range UAVs with the capacity to strike deep
into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since at least
January 2018.
(3) Between January and April 2021, the Houthis launched
upward of 150 UAVs into Saudi Arabia, threatening the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and security, as well as the
lives of more than 70,000 United States nationals living
there.
(4) Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sarea responded to a
realistic peace proposal presented by the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, in March 2021, by threatening ``to carry out stronger
and harsher military attacks in the coming period.''.
(5) United States Government officials, including Special
Envoy Timothy Lenderking, have publically underscored the
crucial role the Government of Iran plays in driving this
growing and continuous threat that emanates from the Houthis
in Yemen.
(6) According to United States officials and United Nations
experts, the Government of Iran, alongside its Lebanese
proxy, Hezbollah, are providing sophisticated weapons systems
and military training to the Houthis, including technical
assistance on the development and employment of UAVs and
ballistic missiles.
(7) The Houthi rebels have also made significant advances
in their domestic military industrial capacity in recent
years, drawing on Iranian sourced components, including
guidance systems to develop several new advanced platforms
like the Burkan medium range ballistic missile and the Sammad
drone series that have extend the Houthi's reach deep into
Saudi Arabia.
(8) The Houthi's growing arsenal of increasingly
sophisticated drones, and ballistic missiles, and cruise
missiles pose a direct threat to United States interests,
particularly as relates to regional security, the safety of
United States nationals, and the trajectory of United
Nations-led peace talks.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the United States should improve cooperation with
allies and likeminded partners to systematically map out,
expose, and disrupt missile and drone procurement networks
used by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen;
(2) the partner countries of the United States in the
Arabian Peninsula face urgent and emerging threats from
unmanned aerial systems and other unmanned aerial vehicles;
(3) joint research and development to counter unmanned
aerial systems will serve the national security interests of
the United States and its partners in the Arabian Peninsula;
(4) development of counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)
technology will reduce the impacts of these attacks, build
deterrence, and increase regional stability;
(5) the United States and partners in the Arabian Peninsula
should continue to work together to protect United States
citizens and personnel in the Middle East and civilians in
the Arabian Peninsula in the face of the threat from unmanned
aerial systems; and
(6) the United States Government should use all leverage at
its disposal to pressure the Houthis to de-escalate cross
border attacks, cease their offensive in Marib, and
meaningfully engage in United Nations-led peace talks.
(c) Authority to Enter Into Agreement.--
(1) In general.--The President is authorized to enter into
a cooperative project agreement with countries in the Arabian
Peninsula under the authority of section 27 of the Arms
Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2767) to carry out research on
and development, testing, evaluation, and joint production
(including follow-on support) of defense articles and defense
services to detect, track, and destroy armed unmanned aerial
systems that threaten the United States and its partners in
the Arabian Peninsula.
(2) Applicable requirements.--The cooperative project
agreement described in paragraph (1)--
(A) shall provide that any activities carried out pursuant
to the agreement are subject to--
(i) the applicable requirements described in subparagraphs
(A), (B), and (C) of section 27(b)(2) of the Arms Export
Control Act; and
(ii) any other applicable requirements of the Arms Export
Control Act with respect to the use, transfer, and security
of such defense articles and defense services under that Act;
and
(B) shall establish a framework to negotiate the rights to
intellectual property developed under the agreement.
(d) Rule of Construction With Respect to Use of Military
Force.--Nothing in this section may be construed as an
authorization for the use of military force.
(e) Arabian Peninsula Defined.--In this section, the term
``Arabian Peninsula'' means Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
______