A pair of bipartisan Senate lawmakers has introduced an amendment to the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the Department of Defense to procure high-priority weapon systems to support the Ukrainian military, DefenseNews reported Tuesday.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., the panel’s ranking member, proposed the legislation to give DOD the authority to award multi-year contracts to replenish the weapon stockpiles provided to Ukraine.
Pentagon would be permitted to buy certain munitions manufactured by defense contractors including BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies over fiscal 2023 and 2024.
The legislation also aims to ease several legal restrictions on defense procurement through fiscal 2024, waive the certified cost or pricing data requirement and grant special emergency procurement authorities reserved for acquisitions supporting contingency operations.
Reed and Inhofe has opened the deliberation on the FY 2023 NDAA that would authorize $817 billion for DOD and $29 billion for the Department of Energy’s national security programs.
