REPORT ON TECHNOLOGIES FOR NEUTRALIZING OR DEFEATING THREATS TO MILITARY ROTARY-WING AIRCRAFT FROM PORTABLE AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS AND ROCKET-PROPELLED GRENADES.

SEC. 1043. REPORT ON TECHNOLOGIES FOR NEUTRALIZING OR DEFEATING THREATS TO MILITARY ROTARY-WING AIRCRAFT FROM PORTABLE AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS AND ROCKET-PROPELLED GRENADES.(a) Report Required.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on technologies for neutralizing or defeating threats to military rotary-wing aircraft posed by portable air defense systems and rocket-propelled grenades that are being researched, developed, employed, or considered by the United States Government or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.(b) Content.—The report under subsection (a) shall include the following:(1) An assessment of the expected value and utility of the technologies referred to in subsection (a), particularly with respect to—(A) the saving of lives;(B) the ability to reduce the vulnerability of aircraft; and(C) the enhancement of the ability of aircraft and their crews to accomplish assigned missions.(2) An assessment of the potential costs of developing and deploying such technologies.(3) A description of efforts undertaken to develop such technologies, including—(A) nonlethal countermeasures;(B) lasers and other systems designed to dazzle, impede, or obscure threatening weapons or their users;(C) direct fire response systems;(D) directed energy weapons; and(E) passive and active systems.(4) A description of any impediment to the development of such technologies, such as legal restrictions under the law of war, treaty restrictions under the Protocol on Blinding Lasers, and political obstacles such as the reluctance of other allied countries to pursue such technologies.120 STAT. 2392