SkyFoundry Act of 2025

This legislation requires the Secretary of Defense to establish and carry out the SkyFoundry Program , administered through the Secretary of the Army and as part of the Defense Industrial Resilience Consortium. The program's core purpose is to enable the rapid development, testing, and scalable manufacture of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), with potential expansion to associated energetics and other autonomous systems. To accelerate progress, the program will leverage alternative acquisition mechanisms, including other transaction authority and the middle tier of acquisition pathway for rapid prototyping and fielding. The SkyFoundry Program will consist of two main components: a Government-owned innovation facility for research and development, and a Government-owned production facility. The production facility, which must be located at an existing Army Depot meeting specific criteria, is designed to achieve an annual production capacity of 1,000,000 sUAS once fully established. The bill also authorizes multiyear contracts for contractor support, public-private partnerships, and the use of Defense Production Act authorities to bolster the domestic industrial base. Furthermore, it allows for expedited approvals and waivers of Department of Defense regulatory requirements to facilitate the program's rapid development and production activities.