Led by Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) and Ranking Member Seth Moulton (D-MA), the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces today released its proposals for the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Subcommittee will meet at 10:00am ET on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 in Rayburn 2118. The markup will be live streamed on the committee's website. The Subcommittee's mark is available here.
Space Activities
Requires a plan for threat sharing with commercial space operators.
Requires review of the classification guidance to make sure that it remains appropriate before granting Milestone B approval of space major defense acquisition programs.
Requires the department to establish a process to identify and evaluate commercial space situational awareness capabilities and to develop and implement a plan to integrate that data into Space Force operational systems.
Nuclear Forces
Requires the Department of Defense to establish a major force program for nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) programs to aggregate and better track sustainment and modernization efforts across the NC3 enterprise.
Requires the submission of an integrated master schedule for the Sentinel missile program, as well as quarterly briefings on the program's progress.
Requires congressional notification in the event Russia or China provide assistance to each other in advancing their nuclear deterrents.
Continues limitations established in the FY23 NDAA on full retirement of B83-1 nuclear gravity bombs until studies on how to address hard and deeply buried targets have been delivered to Congress.
Missile Defense Programs
Requires the Director of the Missile Defense Agency to provide a report on potential enhancements to the Aegis Ashore missile defense sites in Poland and Romania to better detect and defend against a broader array of missile threats.
Authorizes the Missile Defense Agency to carry out a program to develop a Glide Phase Interceptor for hypersonic defense and requires it to reach Initial Operations Capability by 2029.
Hypersonic Capabilities
Requires the Department to evaluate and initiate environmental review processes for at least two additional air corridors for hypersonic testing.
Amends a requirement for the Department to develop a hypersonic testing strategy to require updates every two years.
