S.Amdt. 2895

SA 2895. Mr. CONRAD (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Gregg, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Sununu, Ms. Cantwell, and Mr. Inhofe) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 1585, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle D of title I, add the following:

SEC. 143. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE REPLACEMENT OF THE TANKER AIRCRAFT FLEET.

It is the sense of Congress that timely replacement of the Air Force aerial refueling tanker fleet in a manner that achieves the best value for the taxpayer is a vital national security priority for the reasons as follows:

(1) The average age of the aircraft in the Air Force aerial refueling tanker fleet is now more than 43 years, with the age of the aircraft in the KC-135 tanker fleet averaging 46 years.

(2) The development and fielding of a replacement tanker aircraft will allow the United States military to continue to project combat capability anywhere in the world on short notice without relying on intermediate bases for refueling.

(3) Under current plans, it will take more than 30 years to replace the current fleet of KC-135 tanker aircraft, meaning that some KC-135 tanker aircraft are scheduled to remain operational until they are nearly 80 years old.