I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 5228
To direct the Secretary of the Air Force to develop a plan for the recapitaliza-
tion of fighter squadrons of the Air National Guard and the Air Force
Reserve and to limit modifications to the flying missions of such squad-
rons until such plan is complete.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST18, 2023
Mr. B
ACONintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Armed Services
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of the Air Force to develop a plan
for the recapitalization of fighter squadrons of the Air
National Guard and the Air Force Reserve and to limit
modifications to the flying missions of such squadrons
until such plan is complete.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Air Reserve Compo-4
nent Fighter Recapitalization Act of 2023’’. 5
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•HR 5228 IH
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON TERMINATION OF FIGHTER SQUAD-1
RONS. 2
(a) L
IMITATION.—The Secretary of the Air Force 3
may not terminate the fighter flying mission of any fighter 4
squadron of the Air National Guard or the Air Force Re-5
serve until a period of 180 days has elapsed following the 6
date on which the Secretary submits the plan required 7
under subsection (b). 8
(b) P
LANREQUIRED.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Air 10
Force, in coordination with the Director of the Air 11
National Guard and the Commander of the Air 12
Force Reserve, shall develop a notional plan for the 13
recapitalization of all fighter squadrons of the Air 14
National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. 15
(2) E
LEMENTS.—The plan under paragraph (1) 16
shall— 17
(A) provide options for the modernization 18
of fighter squadrons of the Air National Guard 19
and the Air Force Reserve and the replacement 20
of the aircraft of such squadrons at a rate that 21
ensures recapitalization of such squadrons with 22
relevant and more capable replacement fighter 23
aircraft; 24
(B) ensure that each fighter squadron of 25
the Air National Guard and the Air Force Re-26
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•HR 5228 IH
serve has the required minimum of primary 1
mission assigned fighter aircraft to meet force 2
presentation requirements of geographic com-3
batant commanders for both steady-state and 4
operational contingency planning and execution; 5
(C) include consideration for the tem-6
porary reassignment of aircraft to such squad-7
rons from other components of the Air Force, 8
as necessary to meet the requirements of the 9
plan; and 10
(D) include the Secretary of the Air 11
Force’s assessment of any effects of the force 12
presentation on— 13
(i) combatant commanders; 14
(ii) aircrew accession absorption ca-15
pacity; 16
(iii) industrial capacity to support any 17
additional production above programmed 18
quantities; and 19
(iv) costs aside from normal training 20
and personnel costs of unit mission transi-21
tions. 22
(3) S
UBMITTAL TO CONGRESS .—The Secretary 23
of the Air Force shall submit to the congressional 24
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•HR 5228 IH
defense committees the plan required under para-1
graph (1) together with an explanation of— 2
(A) any programmatic funding required to 3
implement such plan; and 4
(B) how the plan differs from other plans 5
of the Secretary of the Air Force with respect 6
to fighter aircraft squadrons of the Air Na-7
tional Guard and the Air Force Reserve (includ-8
ing any such plans in effect as of the date of 9
the submittal of the plan under paragraph (1)); 10
and 11
(C) any effects of the plan on operations 12
and efforts to recapitalize or transition existing 13
fighter aircraft squadrons of the Air National 14
Guard and the Air Force Reserve as proposed 15
in the future-years defense program submitted 16
to Congress under section 221 of title 10, 17
United States Code, for fiscal year 2024. 18
(c) C
ONGRESSIONAL DEFENSECOMMITTEESDE-19
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘congressional defense 20
committees’’ has the meaning given that term in section 21
101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code. 22
Æ
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