Joint Experimentation and Training Range Innovation Office

1053. Joint Experimentation and Training Range Innovation Office Chapter 307 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 4176. Joint Experimentation and Training Range Innovation Office (a) Authority The Secretary of Defense shall establish within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering a Joint Experimentation and Training Range Innovation Office (in this section referred to as the Office ). (b) Director The Office shall be headed by a Director who shall report directly to the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. The Director shall be subject to the supervision of the Under Secretary without the interposition of any other supervising official. (c) Responsibilities The Office shall be responsible for the following: (1) Centralizing efforts relating to advocacy, budgeting, operations, and sustainment of joint experimentation and training ranges (and capabilities supporting such ranges) that are not facilities or resources of the Major Range and Test Facility Base. (2) Accelerating modernization and integration across such joint experimentation and training ranges. (3) Serving as the primary authority for the oversight, coordination, and conduct of activities of the Eastern Range Regional Complex, including such activities carried out in territories of the United States located in the Caribbean region. (4) Fostering and accelerating innovation in technologies that enable realistic experimentation and training for multi-domain operations (including integrated cyber, electronic warfare, and spectrum operations) in contested and other environments, including with respect to— (A) artificial intelligence, machine learning, and autonomous systems; (B) advanced modeling, digital twins, and other simulations; (C) hypersonic systems, directed energy capabilities, and other next-generation weapons; and (D) integrated systems relating to command, control, computing, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting. (5) Establishing and deploying regionally aligned support teams that provide to the Department of Defense remote and on-site technical assistance for joint multi-domain experimentation and training exercises, prototype integration, and related resource-sharing mechanisms, with a particular emphasis on the provision of such support with respect to the Eastern Range Regional Complex. (6) Conducting objective, independent risk assessments and other evaluations of the training programs, technologies and other capabilities, and acquisition initiatives, of the joint forces, for the purpose of informing the decision-making of senior officers of the Department of Defense and reducing such risks. (7) Developing and regularly updating the strategic plan under subsection (d). (d) Strategic plan (1) Not less frequently than once every two fiscal years, the Director of the Office (in coordination with the Secretaries of the military departments, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, the Director of the Joint Staff, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, the Director of the Test Resource Management Center, and the heads of such other Defense Agencies as the Director of the Office may determine relevant) shall submit to the Secretary of Defense a strategic plan addressing the needs of the Department for joint experimentation and training facilities and resources. (2) Each strategic plan under paragraph (1) shall include the following: (A) An assessment of the feasibility of, and recommendations for, the conduct of a biennial joint multi-domain experimentation and training exercise across multiple States and ranges within the Eastern Range Regional Complex to validate and inform subsequent strategic plans. (B) An assessment of requirements for joint experimentation and training (including requirements relating to information technology, network infrastructure, and multi-level security) for the period covered by the plan. (C) An assessment of the facilities and resources, including advanced threat environments, live-virtual constructive simulation capabilities, interoperability standards, networks, and data-sharing mechanisms, of the Eastern Regional Range Complex, including a summary of modernization priorities for such matters during the subsequent two-year period. (D) An itemization, disaggregated by location, of improvements to joint experimentation and training ranges necessary to directly support the acceleration of experimentation and training involving robotic and autonomous systems and the integration of unmanned systems into joint multi-domain operations. (E) An assessment of the effectiveness of the Office with respect to— (i) carrying out the responsibilities under subsection (c); (ii) increasing regional access to, and frequency of, joint multi-domain experimentation and training exercises consistent with such responsibilities; (iii) enhancing military readiness; and (iv) strengthening the defense industrial base. (F) With respect to the exercises specified in subparagraph (E)(ii)— (i) an identification of the number of such exercises carried out during the period covered by the plan; (ii) an assessment of the extent to which such exercises incorporated actors within private industry and academia; and (iii) a description of lessons learned as a result of such exercises, including any resulting updates to risk assessments. (G) An executive summary of any joint multi-domain experimentation and training exercise planned to be carried out within the Eastern Range Regional Complex during the subsequent two-year period. (3) Not later than 90 days after the date on which the Secretary of Defense receives a strategic plan under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a copy of such plan and any comments of the Secretary regarding such plan. (e) Coordination In addition to the coordination required under subsection (d)(1), the Director of the Office shall coordinate with the Secretaries of the military departments, the Joint Staff, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and the commanders of relevant combatant commands, with respect to requirements for joint experimentation and training ranges and plans for joint multi-domain experimentation and training exercises under this section. (f) Administrative support The Secretary of Defense shall provide to the Director of the Office administrative support sufficient to carry out the responsibilities under this section. Such support shall be provided from headquarters activities of the Department or from other activities the Secretary determines appropriate. (g) Funding The Secretary of Defense may use funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for the Joint Electronic Advanced Technology program (or any successor program) for the implementation of this section. (h) Rule of construction Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or otherwise modify the authorities or responsibilities of the Director of the Test Resource Management Center or the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. (i) Major Range and Test Facility Base defined In this section, the term Major Range and Test Facility Base has the meaning given such term under section 4173 of this title. .