[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5276 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5276

To require a roadmap for the future desired state for the solid rocket 
          motor (SRM) industrial base, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 25, 2024

 Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Padilla, and Mr. Wicker) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require a roadmap for the future desired state for the solid rocket 
          motor (SRM) industrial base, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Solid Propulsion Enhancement and 
Advancement for Readiness Act of 2024'' or the ``SPEAR Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. SOLID ROCKET MOTOR INDUSTRIAL BASE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than March 1, 2025, the Under Secretary 
of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, acting through the Director 
of the Joint Production Accelerator Cell and the Assistant Secretary of 
Defense for Industrial Base Policy, shall submit to the congressional 
defense committees a roadmap for the future desired state for the solid 
rocket motor (SRM) industrial base.
    (b) Coordination.--In developing this roadmap required under 
subsection (a), the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and 
Sustainment shall coordinate with the following officials:
            (1) The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, 
        Development, and Acquisition.
            (2) The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, 
        Logistics, and Technology.
            (3) The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for 
        Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.
            (4) Service munitions Program Executive Officers, as 
        appropriate.
            (5) The Director of the Missile Defense Agency.
    (c) Elements.--The roadmap under subsection (a) shall include the 
following elements:
            (1) The current and future capability and capacity of 
        existing solid rocket motor manufacturers, Aerojet Rocketdyne 
        and Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK).
            (2) The capability and capacity of potential new entrants 
        to the solid rocket motor industrial base, including companies 
        funded by the United States Government.
            (3) An assessment of the process for qualifying new 
        entrants, including new manufacturing processes, for solid 
        rocket motors.
            (4) An assessment of the capacity and capability of the SRM 
        industrial base to support the demands of existing munitions 
        program of record.
            (5) An assessment of the capacity and capability of the SRM 
        industrial base to support potential future demands of 
        munitions programs.
            (6) An assessment of emerging technologies or manufacturing 
        processes that would support the modernization or evolution of 
        the SRM industrial base.
            (7) A mapping of program of record and anticipated or 
        potential future munitions programs to SRM manufacturer 
        throughput.
            (8) Identification of current and potential shortfalls in 
        common precursors and chemicals.
            (9) United States Government funding to date for the SRM 
        industrial base, whether through programs of record or through 
        Defense Production Act (DPA) or Industrial Base Analysis and 
        Sustainment (IBAS) programs, broken out by fiscal year and 
        purpose.
            (10) A plan to prioritize government funding for energetics 
        facilities in the following precedence:
                    (A) Government-owned, government-operated 
                facilities.
                    (B) Government-owned, contractor-operated 
                facilities.
                    (C) Contractor-owned, contractor-operated 
                facilities.
    (d) GAO Review.--Not later than June 1, 2025, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall conduct a review of Department of 
Defense decisions regarding the SRM industry since February 1, 2022, 
including--
            (1) the requested levels of funding for munitions using 
        solid rocket motors, broken down by motor diameter;
            (2) the requested levels of funding for direct investment 
        in government-owned, government-operated facilities, 
        government-owned, contractor-operated facilities, and 
        contractor-owned, contractor-operated facilities;
            (3) the requested levels of funding for direct investment 
        in the SRM supplier base;
            (4) the potential adverse effects of prioritizing privately 
        owned SRM production infrastructure over government-owned SRM 
        production infrastructure; and
            (5) a cost and capabilities comparison between the 
        expansion of existing infrastructure at the Allegany Ballistics 
        Laboratory and construction of new infrastructure at Naval 
        Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head.
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