113 STAT. 546 PUBLIC LAW 106-65 —OCT. 5, 1999 Deadline. Reports. Deadline. SEC. 232. THEATER MISSILE DEFENSE UPPER TIER ACQUISITION STRATEGY. (a) REVISED UPPER TIER STRATEGY.— The Secretary of Defense shall establish an acquisition strategy for the two upper tier missile defense systems that— (1) retains funding for both of the upper tier systems in separate, independently managed program elements throughout the future-years defense program; (2) bases funding decisions and program schedules for each upper tier system on the performance of each system independent of the performance of the other system; and (3) provides for accelerating the deployment of both of the upper tier systems to the maximum extent practicable. (b) UPPER TIER SYSTEMS DEFINED. — For purposes of this section, the upper tier missile defense systems are the following: (1) The Navy Theater Wide system. (2) The Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. SEC. 233. ACQUISITION STRATEGY FOR THEATER HIGH-ALTITUDE AREA DEFENSE (THAAD) SYSTEM. (a) INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF SYSTEM. — Subsection (a) of section 236 of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 105-261; 112 Stat. 1953) is amended to read as follows: "(a) CONTINUED INDEPENDENT REVIEW.— The Secretary of Defense shall take appropriate steps to assure continued independent review, as the Secretary determines is needed, of the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program. ". (b) COORDINATION OF DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEM ELEMENTS. — Subsection (c) of such section is amended by striking "may" and inserting "shall". (c) REVISION TO LIMITATION ON ENTERING MANUFACTURING AND DEVELOPMENT PHASE FOR INTERCEPTOR MISSILE.— Subsection (e) of such section is amended— (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (4); and (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new paragraphs: "(2) If the Secretary determines, after a second successful test of the interceptor missile of the THAAD system, that the THAAD program has achieved a sufficient level of technical maturity, the Secretary may waive the limitation specified in paragraph (1). "(3) If the Secretary grants a waiver under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall, not later than 60 days after the date of the issuance of the waiver, submit to the congressional defense committees a report describing the technical rationale for that action.". SEC. 234. SPACE-BASED LASER PROGRAM. (a) STRUCTURE OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Defense shall structure the space-based laser program to include— (1) an integrated flight experiment; and (2) an ongoing analysis and technology effort to support the development of an objective system design. (b) INTEGRATED FLIGHT EXPERIMENT PROGRAM BASELINE.— Not later than March 15, 2000, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the joint venture contractors for the space-based laser program,
�
