To establish the SkyFoundry Program.

SA 3890. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 3748 proposed by Mr. Wicker (for himself and Mr. Reed) to
the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2026 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, insert the following:

SEC. ___. SKYFOUNDRY PROGRAM.

(a) Establishment.--
(1) Program required.--The Secretary of Defense shall
establish a program to encourage the rapid development,
testing, and scalable manufacturing of small unmanned
aircraft systems and components, with potential expansion to
associated energetics and other autonomous systems as
determined by the Secretary, leveraging existing competencies
within the commercial sector and the Department of Defense
organic industrial base.
(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 of Defense 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 of Defense shall prioritize
alternative acquisition mechanisms to accelerate development
and production, including--
(1) other transaction authority under section 4022 of title
10, United States Code;
(2) middle tier of acquisition pathway for rapid
prototyping and rapid fielding as authorized by section 3602
of such title; and
(3) software acquisition pathway as authorized by section
3603 of such title.
(c) Components.--The Program shall have two components as
follows:
(1) Innovation facility.--An innovation facility for the
development of small unmanned aircraft systems. The facility
may be operated by United States Special Operations Command
in collaboration with United States Army Materiel Command,
serving as the research, development, and testing hub,
integrating lessons learned from global conflicts to rapidly
evolve United States small unmanned aircraft systems designs
in partnership with contractor entities.
(2) Production facility.--The Commander of United States
Army Materiel Command shall identify a production facility
with the competencies for producing various forms of small
unmanned aircraft systems and components of small unmanned
aircraft systems. The facility shall be operated by United
States Army Materiel Command in collaboration with industry
partners to enable scalable production as needed.
(d) Public-private Partnership Model.--To support the
Program, the Secretary may leverage authorities, including
section 2474 of title 10, United States Code, to foster
voluntary public-private partnerships. Such partnerships may
include--
(1) agreements with private industry, academic
institutions, and nonprofit organizations in support of the
Program; and
(2) innovative arrangements that allow industry partners to
utilize government facilities and equipment, such as co-
located hybrid teams of military, civilian, and contractor
personnel, to promote technology transfer, workforce
development, and surge capacity.
(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
paragraph (1) of subsection (c) and one to house the
production facility required by paragraph (2) of such
subsection.
(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 (c)(2) shall be housed at an
existing Army Depot.
(f) Intellectual Property Rights.--The Secretary shall
ensure that any public-private partnership established under
this section provides the United States delivery of technical
data and rights in technical data for any systems or
technologies developed under the Program using Federal
Government funding in accordance with sections 3771 through
3775 of title 10, United States Code.
(g) Defense Production Act Designation.--The President (or
the Secretary of Defense under delegated authority) may use
authorities under title III of the Defense Production Act of
1950 (50 U.S.C. 4531 et seq.) to support domestic industrial
base capacity for small unmanned aircraft systems and
associated energetics and autonomous systems.
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