WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick and Jacky Rosen of Nevada introduced the Unmanned Systems Command and Control Act on Friday, legislation directing the Secretary of War to study and report on whether the U.S. Department of War could use open-architecture systems to command and control its unmanned systems. Open-architecture simply means modular systems using common protocols for unmanned systems, like drones. This would allow singular components to be upgraded or replaced without requiring a re-work of the entire system. Allied and partner countries are already using these systems to great effect.
The act would create a panel of specialists consisting of no more than 2/3 current government employees to conduct studies of battle-tested drone command and control systems, beginning with Ukraine’s Delta and Israel’s multi-drone operating system, and issue reports and recommendations to the Department of War and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The research would draw from existing DoW Research and Development funds.