Sponsors (8)
The bill accelerates U.S.–Ukraine co‑development and faster fielding of Ukraine‑proven unmanned systems—boosting allied capabilities and domestic industry resilience—while raising significant costs, security/export risks from sharing technology, and administrative/oversight trade‑offs that could divert resources or weaken safeguards.
U.S. military personnel and allied forces will gain faster access to Ukraine‑tested and co‑developed unmanned and counter‑unmanned systems, improving battlefield capabilities and readiness.
U.S. and Ukrainian defense organizations (and related U.S. offices) get a formal forum and agreed technology‑transfer frameworks to coordinate co‑development and co‑production, streamlining legal/export processes and speeding procurement.
Defense contractors and industry gain clearer definitions and regulatory clarity about what hardware, software, and C2 components qualify for programs and oversight, reducing procurement ambiguity and enabling contracts.
Taxpayers could face materially higher defense spending to acquire expendable unmanned fleets, support co‑production scale‑up, and cover program administration and coordination costs.
U.S. military personnel and national security are at risk if sharing battlefield telemetry, EW signatures, or deploying U.S. systems to Ukraine leads to exposure, capture, or reverse‑engineering of sensitive technologies.
Sharing technologies and cooperating on co‑development with foreign partners may create export‑control, technology‑security, and compliance risks that complicate safeguards and increase program complexity.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a DOD-led working group to partner with Ukraine to identify, co-develop, co-produce, and acquire expendable unmanned systems and create mutual technology-transfer frameworks.
Official title: To establish a United States-Ukraine Strategic Defense Innovation Working Group, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 30, 2026 by Marcia Carolyn Kaptur · Last progress June 30, 2026
Creates a Defense Department-led Strategic Defense Innovation Working Group to partner with Ukraine and allied entities to identify, co-develop, co-produce, acquire, and transfer expendable, low-cost unmanned systems and enabling command-and-control capabilities. The working group must develop mutual technology-transfer frameworks, assess supply chains, recommend pathways to scale production in the U.S., and brief and report regularly to congressional defense committees. The group must form within 90 days, meet regularly, prioritize Ukraine-designed systems that proved useful in combat, evaluate legal and export-control barriers, and terminate after five years unless extended for one additional year for national security reasons.