Sponsors (6)
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
The bill accelerates U.S.–Ukraine co‑development and domestic fielding of unmanned and related systems—speeding capability and industrial benefits—but increases defense spending, raises security and export risks, and creates administrative and oversight trade‑offs that must be managed.
U.S. military personnel gain faster access to Ukraine-tested and co‑developed unmanned systems and related capabilities, improving battlefield effectiveness, interoperability, and real-world operational feedback.
Creates a formal U.S.–Ukraine forum and mutual technology‑transfer / IP frameworks that streamline legal/export processes and accelerate co‑development and co‑production of defense systems.
Provides industry and federal buyers regulatory and procurement clarity and opens domestic co‑production opportunities, supporting defense jobs, contractor certainty, and potential reductions in R&D/time‑to‑field.
Taxpayers face greater defense spending pressure: co‑development, co‑production, testing, administration, and fast‑tracking could increase acquisition and program costs and reallocate existing budgets.
Sharing technologies, telemetry/EW signatures, prioritized acquisition intentions, or deploying systems in Ukraine risks exposure, capture, or reverse‑engineering that could degrade U.S. technical advantages and raise export‑control vulnerabilities.
Prioritizing Ukraine‑designed systems and using alternative/fast‑track fielding pathways risks diverting DoD attention, funding, and procurement slots from U.S.‑developed programs and may reduce statutory oversight or interoperability with existing systems.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Creates a DOD‑led U.S.–Ukraine Working Group to co‑develop, co‑produce, transfer, and prioritize low‑cost expendable unmanned systems and related tech with reporting to congressional defense committees.
Creates a U.S.–Ukraine Strategic Defense Innovation Working Group to speed co-development, co-production, acquisition, and technology transfer of low-cost, expendable unmanned systems and their enabling software/hardware. The Department of Defense (with State Department coordination) must engage Ukrainian and allied participants, prioritize Ukraine-designed systems for U.S. scale production and fielding, analyze supply chains and legal/intellectual property frameworks, and report regularly to congressional defense committees. The Working Group sunsets after five years unless extended for one additional year for national security reasons.