(a) Plan required
The Secretary of the Air Force shall develop a plan to carry out competitive experimentation, prototyping, and operational assessment of autonomous, semi-autonomous, artificial intelligence-enabled, and adjunct aircraft capabilities relevant to the A–10 mission set.
(b) Elements
The plan under subsection (a) shall include the following:
Appropriate opportunities for participation by nontraditional defense contractors, commercial technology firms, venture-backed defense firms, and other private-sector entities capable of rapidly developing relevant hardware, software, autonomy, sensing, communications, or mission system capabilities.
Measures to ensure operational experimentation is conducted in a manner consistent with meaningful human command and control, by a qualified military aviator, over mission-critical functions, including target engagement, weapons release, mission abort, and such other functions as the Secretary of the Air Force determines appropriate.
An estimated annual budget for implementing the plan.
Consideration of how to make available to a qualified United States entity a limited number of A–10 aircraft, components, or associated support equipment for the sole purpose of research, development, test, and evaluation activities relevant to the A–10 mission set, autonomous or semi-autonomous aircraft integration, mission systems development, digital battlefield communications, or other related capabilities.
(c) Report
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Air Force shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives report on the plan developed under subsection (a).
(d) Qualified United States entity
In this section, the term qualified United States entity means—
a nontraditional defense contractor;
a traditional defense contractor;
a federally funded research and development center;
a university-affiliated research center; or
another domestic entity the Secretary determines is capable of carrying out the activities described in subsection (a) in a manner consistent with national security and public safety.