S.Amdt. 2695

SA 2695. Mr. THUNE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 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 X, insert the following:

SEC. ___. REPORT ON PORTABLE, DRONE-AGNOSTIC MUNITIONS.

(a) Report Required.--Not later than one year after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense
shall, in consultation with the Secretaries of the military
departments, submit to the congressional defense committees a
report on the feasibility and cost of acquiring and fielding
portable, drone-agnostic droppable munitions.
(b) Elements.--The report submitted pursuant to subsection
(a) shall address the following:
(1) The potential use of portable, drone-agnostic droppable
munitions to augment small unit tactics and lethality in the
ground combat forces, including--
(A) trench warfare;
(B) countermine operations;
(C) anti-armor uses; and
(D) anti-personnel uses.
(2) The capability for portable, drone-agnostic droppable
munitions to have a dual tactical capacity to explode in the
air or on impact.
(3) The cost-effectiveness, affordability, and domestic
production capacity of portable, drone-agnostic droppable
munitions in comparison to one-way small uncrewed aerial
systems.
(4) The use of portable, drone-agnostic droppable munitions
in the Ukraine conflict and best practices learned.
(5) The potential use of portable, drone-agnostic droppable
munitions in the defense of Taiwan.
(6) Procurement challenges, legal restrictions, training
shortfalls, operational limitations, or other impediments to
fielding portable, drone-agnostic droppable munitions at the
platoon level.
(7) A plan to equip platoon-sized ground combat formations
in the close combat force with portable, drone-agnostic
droppable munitions at a basis of issue, as determined
appropriate by the Secretary of the military department
concerned, including a proposed timeline and fielding
strategy.
(8) A plan to equip such other ground combat units with
portable, drone-agnostic droppable munitions, as determined
appropriate by the Secretary of the military department
concerned.
(9) The capacity of the domestic defense industrial base to
produce portable, drone-agnostic droppable munitions.
(10) The capacity of the industrial bases of foreign
partners to produce portable, drone-agnostic droppable
munitions.
(11) The feasibility of fielding portable, drone-agnostic
droppable munitions in support of the findings of the report
required by section 1071 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (Public Law 118-31;
137 Stat. 407).S0634
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