Aeronautics Innovation Act

Aeronautics Innovation Act

This bill expresses the sense of Congress that development of high-risk, precompetitive aerospace technology for use in commercial and military aircraft is a fundamental National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) role.

NASA shall establish the following programs to demonstrate innovative advances in aeronautics and aviation:

• a low-boom supersonic aircraft program,
• three subsonic flight programs, and
• an unmannned aircraft (drone) operations program.

NASA shall establish a pilot program to allow it to experiment with the crowdsourcing of early stage experimental aerospace vehicle design work to increase the speed, range, safety, and affordability of supersonic or hypersonic aircraft.

The bill expresses the sense of Congress that hypersonic technologies and weapons will play an increasingly important role in our national security.

The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, as amended, is further amended to revise the responsibilities of the Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Technology Office on Hypersonics in carrying out the DOD program on hypersonics to include developing a well-defined path for hypersonic technologies to transition to operational capabilities for the warfighter.

The bill revises requirements for the Joint Technology Office roadmap for DOD hypersonics programs.

DOD shall appoint an individual recognized in the field of hypersonics to serve as Director of the Joint Technology Office.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy, through the National Science and Technology Council, shall ensure that federal hypersonics research, development, testing, and evaluation activities are coordinated pursuant to a disciplined investment plan.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research, and the appropriate Department of the Army science and technology entities may make grants to research institutions for research and development of hypersonics technology and related education and training.

NASA shall establish a 21st Century Aeronautics Capabilities Initiative to ensure that it possesses the infrastructure capabilities necessary to conduct proposed flight research demonstration projects.