House and Senate negotiators reached a compromise on Sunday evening for the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a sweeping defense bill that makes a major push to reform defense acquisition while adding a slate of cybersecurity provisions, measures to advance military innovation, and a new joint drone program.
“We’re pleased to announce that the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the FY26 NDAA that supports our service members and strengthens our national defense,” according to a joint statement by House and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders.
“We’ve worked together to deliver the most significant acquisition reforms in a generation – cutting red tape, accelerating decision-making, and improving our ability to get modern capabilities into the hands of our troops on time and on budget,” they continued.
Both congressional chambers must pass the same version of the NDAA, and have it signed by the president before it becomes law.
A major provision in the bill focuses on acquisition reform, aiming to streamline processes, reduce red tape, and ensure warfighters efficiently receive critical capabilities.
The compromise includes sweeping acquisition reforms aimed at speeding up how the Pentagon buys and fields new technology, mirroring steps already taken under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s acquisition reform efforts.
The measures are intended to cut bureaucracy, accelerate decision-making and deliver needed capabilities to warfighters more quickly. The legislation would create a new accelerated requirements process to draw on innovative industry solutions rather than prescribing complex, bespoke systems. It also centralizes program management under a single portfolio acquisitions executive and requires earlier planning for sustainment to avoid long-term readiness shortfalls.
The bill additionally places stronger emphasis on commercial technology, consistent with the department’s ongoing push to adopt readily available systems. It directs the Pentagon to look at commercial off-the-shelf capabilities before starting costly development programs, which reduces compliance burdens on small businesses and strengthens procedures for soliciting commercial solutions.
The measure removes barriers to subscription-based services such as private satellite imagery, and establishes the BOOST program within the Defense Innovation Unit to help transition promising technologies into operational use.
The legislation aims to accelerate innovation for warfighters by prioritizing cutting-edge capabilities such as hypersonics and autonomous technologies. It is designed to ensure U.S. forces have the “tools needed to prevail in future conflicts.”
Notably the bill also codifies President Trump’s “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” executive order, reinforcing efforts to expand U.S. capabilities in uncrewed systems and counter-uncrewed systems.
As part of that effort, the bill mandates the establishment of a new joint program with Taiwanese officials to field uncrewed systems and counter-uncrewed systems. According to the legislation, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State, will engage Taiwan to co-develop and co-produce drone capabilities.
Annual briefings to Congress will summarize engagements, progress on fielding systems, additional resources needed, and updates on defense trade agreements, including a memorandum of understanding on reciprocal defense procurement, a security of supply agreement, and other military information agreements.
The NDAA also addresses cybersecurity. It bars funding that would reduce the responsibilities or oversight of the commander of U.S. Cyber Command. It directs the Pentagon to “harmonize the cybersecurity requirements” across the department, reducing contract-specific mandates.