I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1915 

To authorize the Secretary of Defense to carry out activities relating to 

the research, development, test, and evaluation and procurement of the 

David’s Sling weapons program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 21, 2015 

Mr. KILMER (for himself and Mr. BRIDENSTINE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition 

to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Defense to carry out activities 

relating to the research, development, test, and evaluation and procurement of the David’s Sling weapons program, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘David’s Sling Author5 ization Act for Fiscal Year 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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•HR 1915 IH

1 (1) Israel is threatened by missiles and rockets 

2 from adversaries in the region. 

3 (2) Over the past several years, with the assist4 ance of the governments of the Islamic Republic of 

5 Iran and Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas have in6 creased their stockpile of rockets and missiles, which 

7 are ready to be fired at Israel. The Lebanon conflict 

8 in 2006 proved that Large Caliber Artillery Rockets 

9 (LCARs) and Short Range Ballistic Missiles 

10 (SRBMs) have become an immediate mortal threat 

11 to the Israeli civilian population and are in the pos12 session of Hezbollah and Syria. 

13 (3) In 2014, Hezbollah took possession of ad14 vanced guided-missile systems from Syria, rep15 resenting a major upgrade from the tens of thou16 sands unguided rockets in Hezbollah’s possession. 

17 (4) Hamas militants recently acquired long18 range M–302 rockets and fired them deeper into 

19 Israel than they ever had before. 

20 (5) In 2008, the United States and Israel 

21 signed a project agreement to co-develop the David’s 

22 Sling system. 

23 (6) The David’s Sling system will provide Israel 

24 an effective and affordable defense against the 

25 threat of LCAR, Tactical Ballistic Missiles (TBM) 


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•HR 1915 IH

1 and against the emerging Cruise Missile and similar 

2 representative threats, currently proliferating in the 

3 region. 

4 (7) Israeli Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) 

5 multi-tier architecture is comprised of the Upper 

6 Tier (Arrow Weapon System with Arrow 2 and 

7 Arrow 3 interceptors) and Lower Tier (David’s Sling 

8 and Iron Dome systems). Arrow 2 and Iron Dome 

9 are operational, while David’s Sling is expected to 

10 reach its initial operational capability shortly, fol11 lowed by Arrow 3 in near future. 

12 (8) Each system is designed to optimally en13 counter its own range of threats, with a limited 

14 planned overlap between them. David’s Sling is de15 signed to provide a regionally versatile defense in a 

16 range between Iron Dome and Arrow 2 systems. 

17 (9) The missile and rocket threat to Israel is 

18 immediate. Rapid development and deployment of 

19 the David’s Sling system is crucial to provide an en20 hanced defense to the State of Israel and its people. 

21 (10) The fiscal year 2016 requirement for 

22 maintaining the cost and schedule for the Arrow II, 

23 Arrow III, David’s Sling, and Iron Dome programs 

24 is $475,200,000 to support research, testing, devel25 opment, and procurement of these systems. 


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•HR 1915 IH

1 (11) Of the $475,200,000, $136,900,000 is re2 quired in fiscal year 2016 for completion of research 

3 and development and $150,000,000 is required for 

4 the procurement of David’s Sling system compo5 nents. 

6 (12) The United States-Israel Enhanced Secu7 rity Cooperation Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–150) 

8 reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to 

9 the security of Israel as a Jewish State and to assist 

10 in the defense of Israel and to protect United States 

11 interests. 

12 (13) The United States-Israel Strategic Part13 nership Act of 2014 (Public Law 113–296) des14 ignated Israel as a Major Strategic Partner of the 

15 United States. 

16 SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF DAVID’S 

17 SLING WEAPONS PROGRAM. 

18 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Defense may 

19 carry out activities relating to the research, development, 

20 test, and evaluation and procurement of the David’s Sling 

21 weapons program. 

22 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi23 tion to amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated 

24 for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2016, to 


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•HR 1915 IH

1 carry out this section there is authorized to be appro2 priated for fiscal year 2016— 

3 (1) for procurement, Defense-wide, 

4 $150,000,000; and 

5 (2) for research, development, test, and evalua6 tion, Defense-wide, $136,900,000. 

7 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON COPRODUCTION.—It is 

8 the Sense of Congress that— 

9 (1) the United States and the Government of 

10 Israel should enter into a production agreement that 

11 specifies the terms of coproduction, program sched12 ule, and an itemization of costs with respect to the 

13 David’s Sling weapons program production activi14 ties; 

15 (2) such production agreement should strive for 

16 coproduction of the David’s Sling components to the 

17 most optimal level and schedule; and 

18 (3) reaching such a bilateral production agree19 ment, to include funds disbursement policy, should 

20 be a priority, as has been done in other missile de21 fense programs. 

Æ 


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