S.Amdt. 4394

SA 4394. Mr. CONRAD (for himself, Mr. Dorgan, Ms. Landrieu, and Mr. Vitter) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2766, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 27, strike line 1 and all that follows through page 29, line 5, and insert the following:

SEC. 144. RETIREMENT OF B-52H BOMBER AIRCRAFT.

(a) Limitation on Retirement Pending Report on Bomber Force Structure.--No funds authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Defense may be obligated or expended for retiring or dismantling any of the 93 B-52H bomber aircraft in service in the Air Force as of June 1, 2006, until 30 days after the Secretary of the Air Force transmits to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the bomber force structure of the Air Force meeting the requirements of subsection (b).

(b) Elements.--

(1) In general.--A report under subsection (a) shall set forth the following:

(A) The plan of the Air Force for the modernization of the B-52H bomber aircraft fleet.

(B) The plans of the Air Force for the modernization of the balance of the bomber force structure.

(C) The amount and type of bombers in the bomber force structure that is appropriate to meet the requirements of the national security strategy of the United States.

(D) A justification of the cost and projected savings of any reductions to the B-52H bomber aircraft fleet as a result of the retirement or dismantlement of the B-52H bomber aircraft covered by the report.

(E) The life expectancy of each bomber aircraft to remain in the bomber force structure.

(F) The date by which any new bomber aircraft must reach initial operational capability and the capabilities of the bomber force structure that would be replaced or superseded by any new bomber aircraft.

(G) The Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) completed for the Next Generation Long Range Strike program.

(2) Amount and type of bomber force structure defined.--In this subsection, the term “amount and type of bomber force structure” means the number of B-2 bomber aircraft, B-52H bomber aircraft, and B-1 bomber aircraft that are required to carry out the national security strategy of the United States.

(c) Preparation of Report.--A report under this section shall be prepared and submitted by the Institute of Defense Analysis to the Secretary of the Air Force for transmittal by the Secretary in accordance with subsection (a).

(d) Limitation on Transmittal of Report.--The Secretary of Air Force may not transmit the report under subsection (a) as described in that subsection until the Comptroller General of the United States certifies that--

(1) the report is complete and accurate; and

(2) the Air Force has underway a viable program, funded in the Future-Years Defense Program of the Department of Defense, to provide a high probability of meeting the goal in the Quadrennial Defense Review of fielding a new, land-based, penetrating long-range strike capability by 2018 while modernizing the current bomber force.