S.Amdt. 3988

SA 3988. Mrs. MURRAY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 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. 138. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR RETIREMENT OF MARK VI PATROL BOATS.

(a) Prohibition.--None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2022 for the Navy may be obligated or expended to retire, prepare to retire, or place in storage any Mark VI patrol boat.

(b) Report.--Not later than February 15, 2022, the Secretary of the Navy, in consultation with the Commandant of the Marine Corps, shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report that includes each of the following:

(1) The rationale for the retirement of existing Mark VI patrol boats, including an operational analysis of the effect of such retirements on the warfighting requirements of the combatant commanders.

(2) A review of operating concepts for escorting high value units without the Mark VI patrol boat.

(3) A description of the manner and concept of operations in which the Marine Corps could use the Mark VI patrol boat to support distributed maritime operations, advanced expeditionary basing operations, and persistent presence near maritime choke points and strategic littorals in the Indo-Pacific region.

(4) An assessment of the potential for modification, and the associated costs, of the Mark VI patrol boat for the inclusion of loitering munitions or antiship cruise missiles, such as the Long Range Anti Ship Missile and the Naval Strike Missile, particularly to support the concept of operations described in paragraph (3).

(5) A description of resources required for the Marine Corps to possess, man, train, and maintain the Mark VI patrol boat in the performance of the concept of operations described in paragraph (3) and modifications described in paragraph (4).

(6) At the discretion of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, a plan for the Marine Corps to take possession of the Mark VI patrol boat not later than September 30, 2022.

(7) Such other matters as the Secretary determines appropriate.