II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5556 

To require a solid rocket motor industrial base strategy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 17 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Mr. CORNYN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To require a solid rocket motor industrial base strategy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SOLID ROCKET MOTOR INDUSTRIAL BASE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 1, 2025, the 

5 Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and 

6 Sustainment, acting through the Director of the Joint 

7 Production Accelerator Cell of the Department of Defense 

8 and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base 

9 Policy, shall submit to the congressional defense commit10 tees a strategy for ensuring that the defense industrial 

11 base of the United States can meet requirements for pro12 grams of record relating to solid rocket motors. 


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1 (b) COORDINATION.—In developing the strategy re2 quired under subsection (a), the Under Secretary of De3 fense for Acquisition and Sustainment shall coordinate 

4 with the following: 

5 (1) The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Re6 search, Development, and Acquisition. 

7 (2) The Assistant Secretary of the Army for 

8 Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology. 

9 (3) The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force 

10 for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. 

11 (4) The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force 

12 for Space Acquisition and Integration. 

13 (5) The Director of the Missile Defense Agency. 

14 (c) ELEMENTS.—The strategy under subsection (a) 

15 shall include the following: 

16 (1) An assessment of emerging technologies or 

17 manufacturing processes that would support the 

18 modernization or evolution of the defense industrial 

19 base of the United States to meet requirements for 

20 programs of record relating to solid rocket motors. 

21 (2) A plan to prioritize government funding for 

22 the following: 

23 (A) Government-owned, Government-oper24 ated energetic materials facilities. 


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1 (B) Government-owned, contractor-oper2 ated energetic materials facilities. 

3 (C) Private energetic materials facilities. 

4 (d) REVIEW AND REPORT.— 

5 (1) REVIEW.—Not later than March 1, 2025, 

6 the Secretary of Defense shall seek to enter into a 

7 contract with a federally funded research and devel8 opment center to conduct a review of the of the de9 fense industrial base of the United States for solid 

10 rocket motors that includes the following: 

11 (A) An assessment of the capacity and ca12 pability of existing solid rocket motor industrial 

13 base, including the supply base and personnel 

14 of such manufacturers, to support the expan15 sion of the solid rocket motor industrial base. 

16 (B) The capability and capacity of poten17 tial new entrants to the solid rocket motor in18 dustrial base, including private entities funded 

19 by the Federal Government. 

20 (C) An assessment of the process for quali21 fying new entrants, including new manufac22 turing processes, for solid rocket motors. 

23 (D) An assessment of the capacity and ca24 pability of the solid rocket motor industrial base 


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1 to support the demands of existing programs of 

2 record. 

3 (E) An assessment of the capacity and ca4 pability of the solid rocket motor industrial base 

5 to support potential future demands of pro6 grams of record. 

7 (F) A mapping of programs of record and 

8 potential future munitions programs to solid 

9 rocket motor manufacturer throughput. 

10 (G) Identification of current and potential 

11 shortfalls in common precursors and chemicals. 

12 (H) A broad assessment of commercial sec13 tor, civil sector, and Department of Defense 

14 pressures on the solid rocket motor industrial 

15 base. 

16 (2) REPORT.— 

17 (A) TO SECRETARY.—Not later than Sep18 tember 30, 2025, a federally funded research 

19 and development center that enters into con20 tract under this subsection shall submit to the 

21 Secretary of Defense a report on the results of 

22 the review conducted under paragraph (1). 

23 (B) TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 30 

24 days after receipt of the report described in 

25 subparagraph (A), the Secretary of Defense 


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1 shall submit such report, along with any com2 ments of the Secretary, to the congressional de3 fense committees. 

4 (e) ENERGETIC MATERIALS DEFINED.—The term 

5 ‘‘energetic materials’’ has the meaning given in section 

6 148 of title 10, United States Code. 

Æ 


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