National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, Section 224 ("Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems development program accountability matrices")

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: NDAA provisions;U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2023-12-22

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Governance failure

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Lack of capability or robustness

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

This document has minimal risk domain coverage, focusing primarily on governance mechanisms for military AI programs. It addresses governance failure (6.5) through accountability matrices and oversight requirements, and touches on competitive dynamics (6.4) through defense technology development. The document does not substantially address AI safety, discrimination, privacy, misinformation, or other major risk domains as it is focused on program management and accountability rather than AI risk mitigation.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Scientific Research & Development Services
• National Security

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Professional & Technical Services

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document exclusively governs the National Security sector, specifically military aviation programs involving AI-enabled autonomous aircraft. It does not apply to civilian sectors or commercial AI applications.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding federal statute enacted by the United States Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, with mandatory reporting requirements and enforcement through congressional oversight.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress
• Summary: The document is Section 224 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, which is enacted by the United States Congress as the legislative authority.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer
• Entities: Secretary of the Air Force; Secretary of the Navy; Air Force Next Generation Air Dominance program; Navy and Marine Corps Next Generation Air Dominance program; Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs; prime contractors
• Summary: The document targets the military services (Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps) developing and deploying Next Generation Air Dominance and Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs, as well as their prime contractors who provide cost estimates.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: congressional defense committees; Comptroller General of the United States
• Summary: The congressional defense committees receive the required matrices and updates, while the Comptroller General has explicit authority to review and assess compliance with the reporting requirements.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Comptroller General of the United States; congressional defense committees
• Summary: The Comptroller General is explicitly tasked with reviewing matrices and submitting assessments identifying cost, schedule, and performance trends. Congressional defense committees receive semiannual updates and assessments for ongoing monitoring.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document comprehensively covers the engineering manufacturing and development (EMD) phase and low-rate initial production, spanning Plan and Design, Build and Use Model, Verify and Validate, Deploy, and Operate and Monitor stages. It establishes detailed accountability matrices tracking technology readiness, design maturity, software development, testing, and operational metrics throughout the development lifecycle.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Systems
• Task-specific AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document focuses on autonomous, uncrewed AI systems (Collaborative Combat Aircraft) and piloted aircraft with AI components (Next Generation Air Dominance). It does not explicitly define AI models, systems, or use terminology like frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, or compute thresholds. The scope is specific to military aviation AI applications.