(a) Reports required
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter until the date that is two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Commander of United States Special Operations Command, shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the adaptation cycles of the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group and associated autonomous warfare programs. Each such report shall include, for the period covered by the report, each of the following:
A summary of operational lessons identified during such period regarding the employment, maintenance, and integration of autonomous and remotely piloted systems, including lessons derived from combat observations, electronic warfare and cyber threat environments, and joint exercises.
A description of the specific actions taken to incorporate the lessons identified under paragraph (1) into joint and service-level military doctrine, including the timeline from the identification of a lesson to the formal update of doctrinal publications.
A description of modifications made to training pipelines, leader development programs, and personnel policies to reflect operational lessons.
An analysis of how operational feedback has influenced current and future procurement strategies, including—
changes made to existing contracts or performance requirements;
the speed at which technical feedback from operators was translated into hardware or software updates;
an analysis of the reliance on non-domestic supply chains for components altered during adaptation cycles; and
a list of any procurement programs under which existing contractual requirements hindered the rapid adoption of operational lessons.
A summary of the broad allocation of funds across major capability lines and the general distribution profile of resulting autonomous assets across the military departments and combatant commands.
An assessment of the adaptation cycle speed for autonomous systems, defined as the duration between the identification of an operational deficiency or opportunity and the implementation of a corresponding change in doctrine, training, or procurement, including an assessment of the average time required to develop, test, and deploy software patches or technical countermeasures to fielded autonomous systems.
To the extent practicable, a comparison of the adaptation cycle speed of the Department of Defense relative to the observed adaptation cycles of near-peer competitors in the field of autonomous warfare.
(b) Form of report
The report required under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.