Sponsor
Elissa Slotkin
Senator · D-MI
Senator · D-MI
The bill centralizes and standardizes National Guard UAS training and experimentation to boost readiness and enable advanced AI capabilities, at the cost of added spending and elevated safety, security, and AI-misidentification risks that require strong safeguards.
National Guard soldiers, units, and UAS operators would benefit from standardized doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures that make UAS employment more consistent, safer, and more effective across formations.
Military personnel and commanders could gain access to advanced AI-enabled tools for target recognition and real-time situational awareness through experimentation, accelerating adoption of capabilities that improve mission effectiveness.
National Guard soldiers and units would have a centralized facility for testing and certifying UAS operators during annual training, improving readiness, interoperability, and consistent qualification standards.
Military personnel and civilians could face harms from AI-driven target recognition errors or misidentification if safeguards and oversight are insufficient.
Taxpayers and military programs may bear increased costs because creating and operating a new Center requires funding and resources that could raise defense spending or divert funds from other priorities.
Concentrating force-on-force UAS exercises and brigade experimentation at one Center could create heightened operational security and safety challenges for participating troops and nearby communities unless stricter safeguards are implemented.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Directs the Army to report within 180 days on the advisability and feasibility of a Drone Center of Excellence at an Army National Guard training site, covering certification, doctrine, AI integration, and force exercises.
Requires the Secretary of the Army to deliver a report within 180 days assessing whether a Drone Center of Excellence should be established at an Army National Guard training site. The report must evaluate functions such as UAS operator certification during annual training, development of doctrine/tactics/techniques/procedures, AI-enabled experimentation for targeting and situational awareness, and brigade-level force‑on‑force UAS exercises integrated with infantry, armor, and joint formations. The report is an analysis of advisability and feasibility; it does not itself create the center or authorize funding. It is intended to inform Congress and the Department of the Army on options for training, doctrine, and experimentation involving small and tactical unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and related AI capabilities within the National Guard context.
Official title: Require a report on the advisability and feasibility of establishing a Drone Center of Excellence within the Army National Guard.
Introduced August 6, 2026 by Elissa Slotkin · Last progress August 6, 2026