[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 122 (Monday, July 27, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S4285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 6708. Mrs. BLACKBURN submitted an amendment intended to be 
proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for 
fiscal year 2027 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. ___. PILOT PROGRAM ON RENEWABLE WATER-FROM-AIR SYSTEM 
                   FIELDING AND EVALUATION.

       (a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall 
     establish a pilot program for the rapid fielding, testing, 
     and evaluation of approved renewable water-from-air (RWA) 
     systems.
       (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this pilot program established 
     under subsection (a) is to procure and deploy approved 
     renewable water-from-air systems at select domestic and 
     foreign installations with the intent of evaluating--
       (1) capabilities to provide resilient and independent 
     strategic, operational, and tactical, expeditionary, and 
     distributed water sustainment;
       (2) capacity to support installation or unit water 
     sustainment needs, including under emergency and combat 
     scenarios; and
       (3) ability to support global and domestic humanitarian and 
     disaster response missions.
       (c) Selection of Installations and Missions.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary shall select domestic and 
     foreign installations or expeditionary missions on which it 
     will deploy one or more approved renewable water-from-air 
     systems.
       (2) Priority.--In selecting these locations, the Secretary 
     shall prioritize locations where water infrastructure or 
     supply chains are likely to be contested, degraded, 
     geographically constrained, environmentally stressed, or 
     vulnerable to disruption by natural disasters, infrastructure 
     failure, cyberattack, electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, 
     chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN), kinetic 
     attack, sabotage, or other disruptions.
       (d) System Selections.--In procuring or acquiring renewable 
     water-from-air systems, the Secretary shall require the 
     following criteria to have been met prior to deployment:
       (1) Domestically manufactured with 85 percent United States 
     supply chain and have no ownership or control by a foreign 
     entity of concern (as defined in section 9901 of the William 
     M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for 
     Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 4651)).
       (2) Undergone field trials, field testing, or been used in 
     combat at any time before the date of the enactment of this 
     Act by one or more element of the uniformed services (as 
     defined in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code).
       (3) Equipped with protections for making water in 
     electromagnetic pulse attack- and nuclear-contested 
     environments.
       (e) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date on 
     which the pilot program required by subsection (a) is 
     completed, but not later than March 31, 2030, the Secretary 
     shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report 
     that evaluates the deployment of renewable water-from-air 
     systems, including--
       (1) system performance and cost;
       (2) water sustainment capabilities;
       (3) capability to enhance resilience and redundancy;
       (4) recommendations relating to further research; and
       (5) establishment of a program of record and system 
     acquisition for the wider uniformed services (as defined in 
     section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code).
       (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized 
     to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this 
     section, $25,000,000 for the period beginning on the date of 
     the enactment of this Act and ending on September 30, 2029.
                                 ______