I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6735 

To require the Secretary of the Air Force to develop a long-term tactical 

fighter plan for the active and reserve components of the Air Force, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 13, 2023 

Mr. BACON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Air Force to develop a 

long-term tactical fighter plan for the active and reserve 

components of the Air Force, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fighter Force Preser5 vation Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PLAN FOR LONG-TERM AIR FORCE FIGHTER FORCE 

7 STRUCTURE. 

8 (a) PLAN REQUIRED.—The Secretary of the Air 

9 Force, in consultation with the Director of the Air NaVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:30 Dec 19, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6735.IH H6735

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•HR 6735 IH

1 tional Guard and the Commander of the Air Force Re2 serve, shall develop a long-term tactical fighter force struc3 ture, recapitalization, training, and sustainment plan for 

4 the active and reserve components of the Air Force. 

5 (b) ELEMENTS.—The plan under subsection (a) shall 

6 address each of the following: 

7 (1) The appropriate mix of tactical fighter air8 craft force structure, with accompanying operational 

9 risk analyses, required for the Secretary of the Air 

10 Force to meet expected steady-state, global force 

11 management allocation plans and geographical com12 batant commander contingency operational plans 

13 tasked to the Air Force using active and reserve 

14 component units. 

15 (2) The procurement, divestment, unit activa16 tion, deactivation, or re-missioning plans or actions 

17 the Secretary plans to implement, fiscal year-by-fis18 cal year, unit-by-unit, for the next 12 years for each 

19 active and reserve component tactical fighter aircraft 

20 unit existing as of the date of the enactment of this 

21 Act, including the rationale and justification for any 

22 such plans or actions. 

23 (3) The actions the Secretary will take to en24 sure that required operational readiness rates are 

25 maintained during any planned recapitalization, 


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•HR 6735 IH

1 modernization, or change of mission affecting tac2 tical fighter aircraft units. 

3 (4) Any plans of the Secretary to augment or 

4 supplant existing piloted tactical fighter aircraft ca5 pability or capacity with Collaborative Combat Air6 craft Increment 1 or Increment 2 capability or ca7 pacity. 

8 (5) Any plans of the Secretary to augment or 

9 supplant existing piloted tactical fighter aircraft 

10 training events via acquisition and fielding of com11 mon, joint, all-domain, high-fidelity synthetic simula12 tion environments. 

13 (c) REPORT.—Not later than April 1, 2024, the Sec14 retary of the Air Force shall submit to the congressional 

15 defense committees a report that includes the plan devel16 oped under subsection (a). 

17 (d) FORM OF REPORT.—The report required under 

18 subsection (c) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 

19 may contain a classified annex. 

20 (e) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES DE21 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘congressional defense 

22 committees’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

23 101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code. 

Æ 


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