S.Amdt. 880

SA 880. Mr. TILLIS (for himself and Mr. Nelson) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 2810, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 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 C of title I, add the following:

SEC. ___. LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR THE
ENHANCED MULTI MISSION PARACHUTE SYSTEM.

(a) Limitation.--None of the funds authorized to be
appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for the
Department of Defense for fiscal year 2018 for the Enhanced
Multi Mission Parachute System may be used to enter into or
prepare to enter into a contract for the procurement of the
Enhanced Multi Mission Parachute System unless the Secretary
of the Navy submits to the congressional defense committees
the certification described in subsection (b) and the report
described in subsection (c).
(b) Certification.--The certification referred to in
subsection (a) is a certification by the Secretary of the
Navy that--
(1) neither the Marine Corps' currently fielded multi
mission parachute system nor the Army's RA-1 parachute system
meet the Marine Corps requirements;
(2) that the Marine Corps' PARIS, Special Application
Parachute does not meet the Marine Corps requirement;
(3) the testing plan for the enhanced multi mission
parachute system meets all regulatory requirements; and
(4) the Department of the Navy has determined that a high
glide canopy is as safe and effective as the currently
fielded free fall parachute systems.
(c) Report.--The report referred to in subsection (a) is a
report that includes--
(1) an explanation for using the Parachute Industry
Association specification for a military parachute given that
sports parachutes are employed from relatively slow flying
civilian aircraft at altitudes below 10,000 feet;
(2) a cost estimate for any new equipment and training that
the Marine Corps will require in order to employ a high glide
parachute;
(3) justification of why the Department of the Navy is not
conducting any testing until first article testing; and
(4) an assessment of the risks associated with high glide
canopies with a focus on how the Department of the Navy will
mitigate the risk for malfunctions experienced in other high
glide canopy programs.
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