[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 157 (Wednesday, September 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5447-S5448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 5954. Mr. PADILLA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
to amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) 
and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the 
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place in title II, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. ASSESSMENT OF TEST INFRASTRUCTURE AND PRIORITIES 
                   RELATED TO HYPERSONIC CAPABILITIES AND RELATED 
                   TECHNOLOGIES AND HYPERSONIC TEST STRATEGY.

       (a) Assessment.--The Secretary of Defense shall assess the 
     capacity of the Department of Defense to test, evaluate, and 
     qualify hypersonic capabilities and related technologies.
       (b) Requirements.--The assessment under subsection (a) 
     shall cover the following:
       (1) Facilities within the Major Range and Test Facility 
     Base identified pursuant to section 225 of the National 
     Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 
     117-81).
       (2) The capability of each facility to simulate various 
     individual and coupled hypersonic conditions in order to 
     accurately simulate a realistic flight-like environment with 
     all relevant aero thermochemical conditions.
       (3) An analysis of the test frequency, scheduling lead 
     time, test cost, and capacity of each facility related to 
     testing technologies related to hypersonic flight.
       (4) A review of contractor-owned, commercial test flight, 
     and orbital re-entry capsule testbeds that could enhance 
     efforts to test flight vehicles in all phases of hypersonic 
     flight, and other technologies including sensors, 
     communications, thermal protective shields, optical windows, 
     navigation, and environmental sensors.
       (c) Strategy.--
       (1) In general.--Based upon the assessment required under 
     subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the 
     congressional defense committees, in coordination with 
     hypersonic program management offices, the Air Force Research 
     Laboratory, the Office of Naval Research, the Army Research 
     Laboratory, and the Test Resource Management Center, a 
     strategy on--
       (A) how the Department will prioritize Government-owned 
     test facilities and ranges for evaluation of hypersonic 
     technologies, and
       (B) to the maximum extent practicable, where the Department 
     should use contractor-owned, commercial flight, and re-entry 
     test capabilities to fill existing testing requirement gaps 
     where they exist to enhance and accelerate flight 
     qualification of critical hypersonic technologies.
       (2) Elements.--The strategy cover the following:
       (A) Resources needed to improve the frequency and capacity 
     of hypersonic technologies at ground based-facilities and 
     flight test ranges.
       (B) Investments that can be made to incorporate contractor-
     owned, commercial flight and orbital re-entry capsule 
     testbeds into the overall Department of Defense hypersonic 
     test infrastructure.
       (C) Environmental conditions, testing sizes, and duration 
     required for flight qualification of both hypersonic cruise 
     and hypersonic boost-glide technologies.
       (d) Major Range and Test Facility Base.--In this section, 
     the term ``Major

[[Page S5448]]

     Range and Test Facility Base'' has the meaning given that 
     term in section 196(i) of title 10, United States Code.
                                 ______