BLUE FORCES TRACKING INITIATIVE.

SEC. 235. BLUE FORCES TRACKING INITIATIVE.(a) Goal.—It shall be a goal of the Department of Defense to coordinate fully the various efforts of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the commanders of the combatant commands, and the Secretaries of the military departments to develop an effective system for tracking of United States and other friendly forces (known as “blue forces”) during combat operations. (b) Joint Blue Forces Tracking Experiment.—(1) The Secretary of Defense, acting through the commander of the United States Joint Forces Command, shall carry out a joint experiment during fiscal year 2004 to demonstrate and evaluate available joint blue forces tracking technologies.(2) The objectives of the experiment under paragraph (1) are as follows:(A) To explore various options for tracking United States and other friendly forces during combat operations.(B) To determine an optimal, achievable, and upgradable solution for the development, acquisition, and fielding of a system for tracking all United States military forces that is coordinated and interoperable and also accommodates the participation of military forces of allied nations with United States forces in combat operations.(c) Report.—Not later than 60 days after the conclusion of the experiment under subsection (b), but not later than December 1, 2004, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the results of the experiment, together with a comprehensive plan for the development, acquisition, and fielding of a functional, near real-time blue forces tracking system.