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Title 10, Armed ForcesRelease 119-110

§4422 Weapon System Component or Technology Prototype Projects: Oversight

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

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Each military department must set up (or name) a senior oversight board to run prototype projects for weapon parts, related technologies, and the money used for those projects. The board must include senior people who know how to set requirements, do research and testing, buy and support systems, and who understand technology trends and weapon component needs and schedules. The board must make a strategic plan every three years that picks priority areas for prototyping based on warfighter needs, gaps or readiness problems, technology opportunities likely ready to prototype within three years, and ways to cut operating costs. Each year the board must recommend funding levels across portfolios and recommend specific prototype projects to the department’s acquisition executive. The board must make sure projects are led by research and test experts, allow for experimentation and technology risk, have a plan to move successful prototypes into fielded systems, official programs, or operational use, and have needed technical, contracting, and financial support. Every six months the board must tell the congressional defense committees which projects started in the prior six months (with explanations and required funding) and the results of projects finished and tested in that period.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §4422

Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Establishment.—
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)Membership.—
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)Functions.—
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

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110