WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) in a 55-2 vote advanced its draft of the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with key policy provisions that formalize Pentagon procurement of commercial satellite imagery and back the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense program despite Democratic skepticism.
The committee’s Strategic Forces subcommittee, led by Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), successfully included language establishing the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking (TacSRT) program as a formal “program of record” — a designation that ensures dedicated annual funding for commercial satellite imagery and analytics and clearer acquisition pathways than ad-hoc contracts or pilot programs.
“We establish the tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking program as a formal ‘program of record’ to provide badly needed space products from commercial providers to combatant commands,” DesJarlais said during the markup.
The bill also directs the Pentagon to adopt “private sector payment models” for commercial satellite communications services, potentially moving away from traditional government contracting approaches toward more flexible, usage-based arrangements similar to commercial cloud services.
Golden Dome survives Democratic challenge
The committee backed funding for Golden Dome, the administration’s signature missile defense program that would deploy interceptors in space to counter hypersonic and ballistic missile threats from China and Russia. However, the program faced sharp criticism from Democrats who questioned its feasibility and cost.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), the Strategic Forces subcommittee’s ranking member, unsuccessfully offered an amendment to block funding for space-based interceptors until the administration provides a detailed implementation plan.
“We do not have a plan to implement it, any plan, and yet we are throwing upwards of $25 billion in taxpayer money to the wind, or more accurately, into space,” Moulton said during the markup.
The administration has argued that space-based interceptors offer unique advantages in countering advanced threats that can maneuver to evade ground-based systems.
Acquisition reform focus
This year’s NDAA, dubbed the “Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery (SPEED)” Act, emphasizes Pentagon procurement reforms aimed at accelerating weapons acquisition and strengthening the defense industrial base.
DesJarlais noted that the bill’s acquisition provisions support Space Force efforts to build a “highly skilled and technically proficient acquisition cadre capable of bringing online the next-generation of systems necessary to fight and win in space.”
Next Steps
The House bill now heads to the full chamber for consideration, while the Senate continues work on its own NDAA version. The two chambers will need to reconcile differences in a conference committee process typically completed by year’s end.
The NDAA is annual authorization legislation that sets defense policy priorities and spending levels, though actual funding comes through separate appropriations bills. Congress has passed an NDAA every year for more than six decades, making it one of the few pieces of major legislation that consistently becomes law regardless of political divisions.