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Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§4422 Weapon system component or technology prototype projects: oversight

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART V— - ACQUISITION › Subpart Subpart F— - Major Systems, Major Defense Acquisition Programs, and Weapon Systems Development › Chapter CHAPTER 327— - WEAPON SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED MATTERS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - DEVELOPMENT, PROTOTYPING, AND DEPLOYMENT OF WEAPON SYSTEM COMPONENTS OR TECHNOLOGY › § 4422

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Each military department Secretary must create or name a senior oversight board to manage prototype projects for weapon system parts, related technologies, subsystems, and the money used for them. The board must include senior officials with expertise in requirements, research and testing, acquisition, sustainment, and knowledge of tech development and weapon system needs and schedules. The board must make a strategic plan every three years that sets prototype priorities based on warfighter needs, gaps or readiness problems, chances to add new commercial or science-and-technology components that can be prototyped within three years, and ways to cut operating costs. Each year the board must recommend funding levels across portfolios and recommend specific projects to the service acquisition executive. The board must ensure expert project management, allow for experimentation and technical risk, require a plan to move successful prototypes into fielded use or programs of record, provide needed technical and financial support, and send Congress a report twice a year listing projects started and the results of projects finished and tested in the prior six months.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §4422

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of each military department shall establish an oversight board or identify a similar existing group of senior advisors for managing prototype projects for weapon system components and other technologies and subsystems, including the use of funds for such projects, within the military department concerned.
(b)Each oversight board shall be comprised of senior officials with—
(1)expertise in requirements; research, development, test, and evaluation; acquisition; sustainment; or other relevant areas within the military department concerned;
(2)awareness of technology development activities and opportunities in the Department of Defense, industry, and other sources; and
(3)awareness of the component capability requirements of major weapon systems, including scheduling and fielding goals for such component capabilities.
(c)The functions of each oversight board are as follows:
(1)To issue a strategic plan every three years that prioritizes the capability and weapon system component portfolio areas for conducting prototype projects, based on assessments of—
(A)high priority warfighter needs;
(B)capability gaps or readiness issues with major weapon systems;
(C)opportunities to incrementally integrate new components into major weapon systems based on commercial technology or science and technology efforts that are expected to be sufficiently mature to prototype within three years; and
(D)opportunities to reduce operation and support costs of major weapon systems.
(2)To annually recommend funding levels for weapon system component or technology development and prototype projects across capability or weapon system component portfolios.
(3)To annually recommend to the service acquisition executive of the military department concerned specific weapon system component or technology development and prototype projects.
(4)To ensure projects are managed by experts within the Department of Defense who are knowledgeable in research, development, test, and evaluation and who are aware of opportunities for incremental deployment of component capabilities and other technologies to major weapon systems or directly to support warfighting capabilities.
(5)To ensure projects are conducted in a manner that allows for appropriate experimentation and technology risk.
(6)To ensure projects have a plan for technology transition of the prototype into a fielded system, program of record, or operational use, as appropriate, upon successful achievement of technical and project goals.
(7)To ensure necessary technical, contracting, and financial management resources are available to support each project.
(8)To submit to the congressional defense committees a semiannual notification that includes the following:
(A)each weapon system component or technology prototype project initiated during the preceding six months, including an explanation of each project and its required funding.
(B)the results achieved from weapon system component prototype and technology projects completed and tested during the preceding six months.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2025—Subsec. (c)(3). Pub. L. 119–60 struck out “, subject to the requirements and limitations in section 4423 of this title” after “projects”. 2021—Pub. L. 116–283, § 1851(c)(1), renumbered section 2447b of this title as this section. Subsec. (c)(3). Pub. L. 116–283, § 1851(c)(2), substituted “section 4423” for “section 2447c”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2021 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 116–283 effective Jan. 1, 2022, with additional provisions for delayed implementation and applicability of existing law, see section 1801(d) of Pub. L. 116–283, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Effective Date

Section effective Jan. 1, 2017, see section 806(a)(2) of Pub. L. 114–328, set out as a note under section 4421 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 4422

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73