S.Amdt. 3334

SA 3334. Mr. SCHIFF submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2026 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 III, add the following:

SEC. 334. REPORT ON AERIAL FIREFIGHTING SUPPORT.

Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of the Air Force, in consultation
with the Chief of the United States Forest Service and the
Chief of the National Guard Bureau, shall submit to the
congressional defense committees an unclassified report that
includes the following:
(1) An assessment of the readiness of the Modular Airborne
Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) program across the fleet of the
active and reserve components of the Air Force to ensure that
aircraft and wildland firefighting assets are maximally
available to deploy to combat fires, which shall consider
current estimates of the prevalence of wildland forest fires
throughout the year and the increasing intensity, spread, and
damage caused by such fires.
(2) Recommendations to ensure that procurement,
maintenance, and basing of aircraft and firefighting systems
and availability of trained personnel under such program are
scheduled and implemented with the goal to maximize
availability during periods of heightened wildfire threat.
(3) As assessment of additional existing or available
assets, technology, or other capabilities within the Air
Force or the Space Force that present the potential for
improvement in identifying or responding to wildland forest
fires.
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