S.Amdt. 6096

SA 6096. Mr. PADILLA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2027 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 appropriate place in subtitle D of title I, insert
the following:

SEC. ___. LIMITATION ON DIVESTITURE OF U-2 DRAGON LADY
AIRCRAFT IN FISCAL YEAR 2027.

(a) Limitation.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the Secretary of the Air Force may not, during fiscal
year 2027, retire, divest, transfer, or otherwise remove from
the active inventory more than two U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft.
(2) Prohibition on accelerated divestiture.--The Secretary
of the Air Force may not take any action to accelerate the
divestiture of U-2 aircraft beyond the limitation established
in paragraph (1) during fiscal year 2027, regardless of the
operational status of replacement platforms.
(b) Report Required.--Not later than 90 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Air Force
shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report
that includes the following:
(1) A detailed transition plan for the divestiture of U-2
aircraft, including timelines and milestones.
(2) A description of the bridging capabilities that will be
employed during the transition period to ensure no
degradation in operational capability or capacity.
(3) An independent assessment of intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance capability gaps that would
result from the retirement of U-2 aircraft prior to full
operational capability of replacement systems.
(c) Active Inventory Defined.--In this section, the term
``active inventory'' means aircraft assigned to active flying
units, Air Force Reserve units, and Air National Guard units,
and aircraft maintained in storage for potential future
operational use.
______