# Kinematic Threat Brief

**LRRK Watch / Open-Source Intelligence** — Five current signals across systems that sense, move, and act.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection cutoff | 31 December 2017 |
| Platform | Quiet Systems |
| Data label | Open-source intelligence // LRRK analytic product |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. |

## Executive read

### BLUF

December wrote two Control Fabrics into statute: President Trump signed the FY2018 NDAA (P.L. 115-91) on 12 December, restoring FAA hobbyist registration after *Taylor* (Section 1092) and expanding DoD authority to detect, track, and use reasonable force against UAS near covered facilities (Section 1692) — the year’s answer to vacated Part 48 and to Phantom-class airframes around bases.

### Key judgments

1. **[Assessment — high confidence]** Congress.gov / P.L. 115-91, enacted 12 December 2017: Sec. 1092 collaboration FAA–DoD on UAS; Holland & Knight contemporaneous explainer — Sec. 1092 restores FAA registration for all drones, reversing *Taylor v. Huerta* as to hobbyists; Sec. 1692 grants DoD authority to identify, track, and use reasonable force to destroy drones near covered facilities/assets.
2. **[Assessment — high confidence]** Same act’s UAS table of contents includes Sec. 350 civilian training for Guard MQ-9 crews, Sec. 1068 MTCR Category I UAV systems, Sec. 1084 National Guard access to DoD unmanned aircraft, Sec. 143 certain aircraft and UAV use.
3. **[Inference — moderate confidence]** Statute is now chasing two 2017 failures: a court that stripped hobbyist identity, and a force that found 300 DJI airworthiness releases inside the wire.

### Analytic labels

- **Fact** — verified reporting or primary record
- **Assessment** — analytic judgment
- **Inference** — reasoned but not directly observed
- **Uncertainty** — unresolved information gap

### Source grades

- **A1** — authoritative primary record / directly confirmed
- **B1–B2** — generally reliable and corroborated
- **C3** — useful but requires caution

## 01. NDAA signed 12 December — registration restored

*Event / publication dates: 12 December 2017*

**Verified record — [Fact — A1]** P.L. 115-91, 12 December 2017, H.R. 2810. JD Supra / Holland & Knight: Sec. 1092 restores FAA registration requirement for all drones, reversing *Taylor* (856 F.3d 1089) which held hobbyist registration barred by FMRA §336; *Taylor* did not touch Part 107 commercial registration. Fetched/indexed: https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ91/PLAW-115publ91.htm ; https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/new-drone-provisions-enacted-through-52412/

**Threat landscape.** Identity layer is back by statute, not by FAA creativity. Section 336’s “no rule regarding model aircraft” just lost to a later enactment.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — high confidence] Hobbyist registration is again authorized. [Inference — moderate confidence] Implementation lag will look like 2015–16. [Uncertainty] First post-NDAA registration count is 2018.

**Opportunity.** An FAA “register again” notice.

**LRRK relevance.** Control Fabric / Watch / Passport.

**Confidence.** High on the legal restore.

## 02. Section 1692 — DoD C-UAS around covered assets

*Event / publication dates: 12 December 2017*

**Verified record — [Fact — A1]** Holland & Knight: Sec. 1692, added in conference, grants DoD authority to identify, track, and use “reasonable force” to destroy drones near any DoD “covered facility or asset.” CRS later (not used as 2017 A1 for extra missions) will list protection of President/VP, air defense, combat support agencies, SOF, explosives, test ranges as added missions amending 10 U.S.C. 130i. 2017 explainer is enough to date the authority.

**Threat landscape.** C-UAS is no longer only an FAA circular and a rifle on the Speaker’s balcony. It is a statutory Act permission inside the United States for DoD.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — high confidence] A new domestic C-UAS force-authority exists as of 12 December. [Inference — moderate confidence] Other agencies asked and did not get the same power this act (H&K notes the May 2017 whole-of-government ask). [Uncertainty] First use not in 2017 fetches.

**Opportunity.** An implementing DoD directive.

**LRRK relevance.** Kestrel / Control Fabric / Watch.

**Confidence.** High on the grant; low on first employment.

## 03. MQ-9, Guard training, MTCR — the rest of the UAS title

*Event / publication dates: 12 December 2017 TOC*

**Verified record — [Fact — A1]** P.L. 115-91 TOC: Sec. 350 civilian training for National Guard MQ-9 pilots and sensor operators; Sec. 1068 MTCR Category I UAV systems; Sec. 1084 Guard accessibility to DoD-issued unmanned aircraft; Sec. 1092 FAA–DoD collaboration. Fetched Congress.gov HTML.

**Threat landscape.** Force-structure and export-control language sit in the same bill as C-UAS. Political economy of MALE remains a statute, not only a Reuters feature.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — high confidence] Those sections exist. [Uncertainty] Sec. 1068’s operative change not fully extracted here.

**Opportunity.** The Sec. 1068 statutory text extract.

**LRRK relevance.** Campaign / Control Fabric.

**Confidence.** High on existence; moderate on 1068’s precise effect.

## 04. Army DJI halt — still the service policy

*Event / publication dates: 2 August 2017*

**Verified record — [Fact — A1]** No December fetched rescission. NDAA C-UAS is about defeating UAS, not about buying DJI again. Carry-forward: https://www.suasnews.com/2017/08/us-army-calls-units-discontinue-use-dji-equipment/

**Threat landscape.** Statute plus service ban is a two-layer domestic Control Fabric.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — high confidence] Halt stands at year end.

**Opportunity.** A DoD-wide COTS-UAS policy.

**LRRK relevance.** Control Fabric / Passport.

**Confidence.** High.

## 05. Year-end running files — Reaper wreck, Sea Hunter, TB2, CH-4

*Event / publication dates: 1 October MQ-9; 2016 Sea Hunter/TB2/CH-4*

**Verified record — [Fact — B1]** No December fetched MQ-9 cause close-out; no December 2017 ONR Sea Hunter transfer (January 2018 — excluded); no December 2017 Indonesian glider (2020 — refused). Carry-forward CNN and BBC Bowditch as the year’s unmanned-loss and UUV-seizure bookends.

**Threat landscape.** 2017’s kinematic ledger is COTS-Act in Mosul, DJI-inside-the-force, Taylor hole, MQ-9 shot down, statute patched.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — high confidence] Those are the year’s fetched spines; December adds the statute.

**Opportunity.** A 2018 (next archive year) ONR transfer primary — not this cutoff.

**LRRK relevance.** Campaign / Watch.

**Confidence.** High on the year-end join; high that 2018 transfer is excluded.

## Forward indicators

Ranked watchlist as of the collection cutoff (what a Watch desk would have monitored next).

1. FAA re-opening hobbyist registration under the new statute.
2. First 1692 C-UAS engagement or implementing directive.
3. MQ-9 Yemen investigation result.
4. DoD-wide DJI/COTS policy.
5. Sea Hunter stewardship move — watch 2018, do not backdate.

> **Collection integrity.** P.L. 115-91 and Holland & Knight 2017 explainer are the statute spine. CRS pieces that recast 1692 with later NDAAs are not used to invent 2017 mission lists beyond the 2017 explainer. January 2018 ONR Sea Hunter transfer refused. 2020–21 Indonesian Haiyi finds refused. No invented first C-UAS shot.


*LRRK — security assurance for systems that sense, move, and act.*

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