§148 Joint Energetics Transition Office

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must create a Joint Energetics Transition Office inside the Department of Defense. The Office will do the energetic-materials work described below and any other related duties the Secretary gives it. The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment must pick the Office head from officials under that Under Secretary. The head reports to that Under Secretary and works with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. The Research and Engineering Under Secretary must pick the deputy head from their officials. The deputy reports to the head and to that Under Secretary. The head and deputy run the Office and must not be given outside duties that stop them from managing it. The Office must make and update a strategic plan and investment strategy for energetic materials across their full life cycle, covering the same years as the future‑years defense program required under section 221 and the program objective memorandum (POM) process. It must run studies to find targets best addressed by new energetic materials and to inform the POM, find and fix supply chain shortfalls and expand the industrial base, and cut raw material waste and improve production. The Office must coordinate research, development, test, and evaluation across the Department to find promising materials, mature and prototype them, speed testing and acquisition, set up demonstration venues, and help industry and universities move technologies into production and use. It must also speed validation and accreditation of modeling and simulation and speed qualification from discovery to weapon integration, recommend changes to laws or policies that slow that work, coordinate with other DoD and federal organizations, and, under section 191, run a DoD Field Activity for systems engineering funded under budget activity 3 or 4 to lower technical risk and run demonstrations. The Secretary must fund the Office so it has enough staff and resources, and starting with the budget for fiscal year 2027 and each year after must include a dedicated budget line for creating the Office and for its testing and evaluation work. Definitions: Energetic materials — critical chemicals and formulas that release large amounts of stored chemical energy and can be used as explosives, propellants, pyrotechnics, or reactive materials that make warheads lethal or improve range, speed, or lethality.