S.Amdt. 1478

SA 1478. Mr. TILLIS (for himself, Mr. Inhofe, and Mr. Burr) submitted
an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 1463 proposed by
Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to authorize appropriations for
fiscal year 2016 for military activities of the Department of Defense
and for military construction, 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 B of title I, add the following:

SEC. 141. STATIONING OF C-130 H AIRCRAFT AVIONICS PREVIOUSLY
MODIFIED BY THE AVIONICS MODERNIZATION PROGRAM
(AMP) IN SUPPORT OF DAILY TRAINING AND
CONTINGENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR AIRBORNE AND
SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES.

The Secretary of the Air Force shall station aircraft
previously modified by the C-130 Avionics Modernization
Program (AMP) to support United States Army Airborne and
United States Army Special Operations Command daily training
and contingency requirements by the end of fiscal year 2017,
and such aircraft shall not be required to deploy in the
normal rotation of C-130 H units. The Secretary shall provide
such personnel as required to maintain and operate the
aircraft.

SEC. ----. FIELDING OF AMP MODIFIED C-130 H AIRCRAFT

Section 134 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015
(Public Law 113-291) prohibits the Air Force from canceling
or modifying the C-130H AMP program of record. Elsewhere in
this Act the committee states that it expect the Air Force to
continue to execute AMP and field C-130H aircraft previously
upgraded by the AMP program until the Air Force provides a
concrete plan that describes the final modification
configuration for a restructured AMP program, a service cost
position, and a procurement and installation schedule that
would realistically support a fleet viability requirement.
The Air Force has resisted fielding the five previously
modified AMP aircraft or to install the previously purchased
installation kits to modify an additional four aircraft
because of the difficulties in training aircrews and
establishing logistics support, thereby negating the ability
to deploy these aircraft in the C-130 schedule rotation.
However, in order to comply with 134 of the Carl Levin and
Howard P. `Buck' McKeon National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113-291) and stated
committee desires, the Air Force must continue fielding these
aircraft.
The five current AMP-modified C-130Hs, plus aircraft
modified with the four previously purchased installation kits
would be

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ideal aircraft to support 18th Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne
Division, and U.S. Army Special Operations Command training
and contingency requirements as they would primarily provide
training support to these units and not be required to deploy
in the normal rotation of C-130 units.
The committee believes the Air Force has expended
significant funds on the AMP program of record and therefore
should use due diligence to give the American taxpayer the
best return on scarce funding to maximize military
effectiveness.
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