The Strategic Unmanned Systems Partnership Act would create a Strategic Defense Innovation Working Group to engage with Ukrainian stakeholders on co-developing, co-producing, acquiring, and transferring certain unmanned systems. The bill defines "covered systems" as expendable, low-cost unmanned systems and their enabling software, hardware, counter-unmanned capabilities, and command-and-control architecture. The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State, must seek to establish the Working Group within 90 days of enactment.
The Working Group would be co-chaired by several senior Defense officials (including the Under Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, the Director of the Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment, and the Commander of Joint Special Operations Command). The Secretary must seek participation from Ukraine's Ministry of Defense and military forces, the Brave1 Defense Tech Cluster, and the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training, and Education Center.
Duties include analyzing Ukrainian methodologies and Ukraine-designed covered systems, recommending inclusion of such systems into U.S. programs, developing mutual technology transfer and procurement frameworks (including data exchange protocols and joint intellectual property ownership frameworks), assessing supply chains and costs for co-production in the United States, and assessing feasibility of testing U.S.-made covered systems in Ukraine. The Working Group must meet at least every 120 days. It must provide an initial briefing to congressional defense committees within 120 days and semiannual reports thereafter. The Working Group would terminate five years after enactment unless the Secretary justifies a one-year extension for national security.
If enacted, the bill would set up a formal U.S.-Ukraine working group to study and recommend ways to work together on certain unmanned systems. The text names the U.S. co-chairs and invites specific Ukrainian and NATO-related participants. The bill does not itself change procurement rules or authorize specific production; it directs the Working Group to identify technical, legal, supply-chain, and intellectual property steps needed to co-develop and scale Ukraine-designed systems.
No publicly available information on direct costs or new funding is included in the text of the bill. The bill requires the Working Group to identify the costs of co-developing and co-producing Ukraine-designed covered systems, but it does not authorize appropriations or specify budget amounts.
The bill text shows an intent to accelerate co-development, co-production, acquisition, and transfer of Ukraine-designed covered unmanned systems. It directs the Working Group to identify priority systems, address technology transfer and intellectual property frameworks, analyze supply chains, and recommend fast-track authorities or other pathways to field such systems.
No publicly available information on opponents' views or formal objections is included in the bill text or the provided metadata.