Sponsor
Elise M. Stefanik
Representative · R-NY
Representative · R-NY
The bill trades stronger national-security protections by blocking potentially risky foreign-made UGVs and restricting federal spending on them against higher procurement and retrofit costs, administrative burdens, and possible short-term operational gaps if alternatives or certification processes lag.
Federal agencies, military personnel, and law enforcement: reduced risk of foreign data exfiltration or hardware backdoors in UGVs because the bill restricts use of covered foreign-manufactured UGVs unless certified safe, lowering cybersecurity threats to sensitive systems and operations.
Taxpayers and government procurement: prevents federal funds from indirectly supporting firms tied to covered foreign nations by limiting purchases of covered UGVs, helping ensure federal spending does not subsidize potential adversary-controlled suppliers.
Defense researchers and federal program offices: creates a clear research/testing exception so agencies can evaluate covered UGVs and develop counter-UGV capabilities under controlled conditions, improving threat understanding and mitigation development.
Military units, law enforcement, and mission-focused agencies: potential operational gaps if approved domestic or non-covered alternatives are not available within the specified timeframe, which could reduce mission capability and readiness.
Government contractors, federal agencies, and taxpayers: procurement, retrofit, and replacement costs to remove or modify covered UGVs and the loss of federal business for some foreign-connected suppliers could raise expenses, disrupt contracts, and affect jobs.
Federal employees and agency administrators: increased administrative burden to review exemption requests and certify devices as posing no cybersecurity risk will divert staff time and agency resources from other priorities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Blocks federal procurement and, after one year, operation of unmanned ground vehicles made or controlled by covered foreign entities, with narrow national‑interest exemptions.
Official title: To prohibit executive agencies from procuring or operating certain unmanned ground vehicle systems, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 2, 2026 by Elise M. Stefanik · Last progress April 2, 2026
Prohibits executive branch agencies from buying or using unmanned ground vehicle systems (UGVS) that are manufactured, assembled, or controlled by companies tied to certain foreign countries. The procurement ban takes effect immediately; bans on operating such systems and using federal funds to procure or operate them begin one year after enactment. Agency heads at DHS, DOD, State, and DOJ can grant narrow national‑interest exemptions for research, testing, counter‑threat operations, or when a device is vetted and cannot transfer data to a covered foreign entity.