S.Amdt. 2139

SA 2139. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2021 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:

Amend section 144 to read as follows:

SEC. 144. MINIMUM AIR FORCE BOMBER AIRCRAFT LEVEL.

(a) Minimum.--The Secretary of Defense shall submit to the
congressional defense committees recommendations for a
minimum number of bomber aircraft, including penetrating
bombers in addition to B-52H

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aircraft, to enable the Air Force to carry out its long-range
penetrating strike capability.
(b) Briefing on B-1 Fleet Sustainment.--
(1) Initial briefing.--Not later than 30 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Air
Force shall brief the congressional defense committees on the
current state of readiness and continued sustainment of the
B-1 fleet and any gaps or necessary steps to ensure that the
mission capable rate of the B-1 fleet is not less than 70
percent and the structural life of such fleet is sufficient
to 2040.
(2) Quarterly briefing.--If the mission capable rate and
structural life levels specified in paragraph (1) have not
been met, not later than 60 days after the briefing under
paragraph (1), and not less frequently than quarterly
thereafter until such levels have been met, the Secretary of
the Air Force shall brief the congressional defense
committees on, with respect to the B-1 fleet, the following:
(A) A description of any structural issues or technical
deficiencies.
(B) A plan for continued structural deficiency data
analysis and training.
(C) A description of projected repair timelines to address
issues identified under subparagraph (A).
(D) A description of future mitigation strategies,
including an analysis of the support requirement for each
aircraft.
(E) An aircrew maintainer training plan, including a plan
to ensure that the training pipeline remains steady for any
degradation period.
(F) An identification of any deficiencies in equipment or
funds required to address issues identified under
subparagraph (A).
(G) A recovery timeline to resolve issues identified under
subparagraph (A).
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