July 10, 2025
Mr. Mullin (for himself and Mr. Wittman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
To direct the Secretary of the Air Force to carry out a capability demonstration project to obtain a resilient positioning, navigation, and timing capability demonstration, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Resilient Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Act
or the Resilient LEO PNT Act
.
Sec. 2. Commercial Low Earth Orbit Resilient Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Capability Demonstration and Pathfinder Program
(a) Pathfinder Program
Subject to the availability of appropriations for such purpose, the Secretary of the Air Force shall carry out a capability demonstration project, to be known as the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Resilient Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Capability Demonstration
in accordance with this section.
(b) Contract with covered service provider
(1) Selection
As soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall—
(A)
develop a list of covered service providers that can carry out a capability demonstration project with the technical capabilities described in subsection (c); and
(B)
seek to award a contract to at least one such covered service provider.
(2) Contract
The contract awarded to a covered service provider under this subsection shall provide that such covered service provider carry out a capability demonstration project with the technical capabilities described in subsection (c) not later than 18 months after the date of the award of such contract.
(c) Technical Capabilities
The capability demonstration delivered under subsection (b)(2) shall demonstrate a satellite system that has—
(1)
the ability to operate in the absence of Global Positioning System services;
(2)
compatibility with user equipment that uses the civilian Global Positioning System L1 or L5 services without performing hardware modifications of receiver equipment;
(3)
greater resistance to jamming and spoofing threats compared to existing Global Positioning System services, to an extent determined by the Secretary;
(4)
the ability to provide timing accuracy of less than 10 nanoseconds and position accuracy of less than 30 centimeters for stationary and mobile users; and
(5)
the ability to restore service if some or all satellites in the satellite system are disabled, in a cadence as determined by the Secretary that substantially decreases the time to service restoration compared to what is possible under existing Global Positioning System service.
(d) Evaluation
The Secretary shall evaluate the covered service providers for the purposes of developing the list of covered service providers under subsection (b)(1) based on the requirements in section (c) and the following factors:
(1)
A demonstrated commercial business case.
(2)
Technological readiness of space and ground network operations.
(3)
Technological readiness of user equipment.
(4)
Feasibility of rapidly manufacturing satellites for deployment.
(5)
The requisite authorization by the Federal Communications Commission.
(e) Follow-On production contract or transaction
Not later than 180 days after a determination by the Secretary that the capability demonstration project has been successfully completed, the Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, award a follow-on production contract or transaction (as defined in section 4022 of title 10, United States Code) to at least one covered service provider that carried out such successful capability demonstration project for the purpose of achieving operational deployment as determined by the Secretary.
(f) Briefing and report
Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall provide a briefing and submit a report to the Committees on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate on the capability demonstration project described in this section that includes—
(1)
the list of covered service providers developed under subsection (b)(1);
(2)
an assessment of such providers and how the capability demonstration offered by each demonstrates the technical capabilities listed in subsection (c);
(3)
the results of the pathfinder capability demonstration; and
(4)
a strategy and timeline for deploying the system demonstration by the capability demonstration project to operational scale.
(g) Definitions
In this section:
(1)
The term capability demonstration project
means a prototype project pursuant to section 4022 of title 10, United States Code, that demonstrates resilient positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities by a low earth orbit system of satellites.
(2)
The term covered service provider means a commercial entity that—
(A)
has its principal office located in the United States; and
(B)
provides low earth orbit positioning, navigation, and timing services.
(3)
The term nanosecond means a nanosecond in Universal Coordinated Time, as maintained by the United States Naval Observatory (UTC(USNO)).