I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3476 

To authorize the Secretary of the Air Force to designate the Illinois Air 

National Guard 126th Air Refueling Wing at Scott Air Force Base 

as a Center of Excellence for KC–135R maintenance operations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 25, 2021 

Mr. BOST (for himself, Mr. KINZINGER, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. 

RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, and Mrs. MILLER of Illinois) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of the Air Force to designate 

the Illinois Air National Guard 126th Air Refueling 

Wing at Scott Air Force Base as a Center of Excellence 

for KC–135R maintenance operations. 

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 ‘‘Air National Guard 

5 Air Refueling Wing Center of Excellence Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The 126th Air Refueling Wing has a long, 

2 decorated history of exceeding its fiscal year goals in 

3 Mission Capable Rate, Aircraft Availability, Hourly 

4 Use, Home Station Logistics Departure Reliability, 

5 flying hours, sorties, and fuel offloaded. 

6 (2) The 126th Air Refueling Wing was the top 

7 performing KC–135R unit in 2016, receiving the Air 

8 Force Outstanding Unit Award. 

9 (3) The 126th Air Refueling Wing had the 

10 highest mission capable rating for all KC–135R air11 craft, Active, Guard and Reserve for fiscal years 

12 2016, 2017, and 2018, and is on track for fiscal 

13 year 2019, with a 89.06-percent mission capable rat14 ing. 

15 (4) The 126th Air Refueling Wing set the bar 

16 for home station departure reliability rate, exceeding 

17 Air Mobility Command’s goal of 78 percent with a 

18 three-year average of 98.16 percent. 

19 (5) The 126th Maintenance Group won the cov20 eted Maintenance Effectiveness Award for being the 

21 top Maintenance Group in best Small Aircraft Main22 tenance unit category (<300 personnel) in the Air 

23 National Guard for fiscal year 2017. 

24 (6) The 126th Maintenance Group was the vi25 sionary of ‘‘Project 14’’, which is the premier 14-day 


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1 KC–135 periodic inspection model championed by 

2 the National Guard Bureau. 

3 (7) The 126th Maintenance Group completed 

4 17 periodic inspections of aircraft and nine periodic 

5 inspections on other units’ KC–135s, increasing the 

6 mission capable rating by 8 percent and potentially 

7 setting the standard for periodic inspection regional8 ization. 

9 (8) The 126th Air Refueling Wing flew 27 

10 black letter flights (aircraft with zero discrepancies), 

11 including one flight in CENTCOM to support the 

12 warfighter. 

13 (9) Air Mobility Command awarded the 126th 

14 Air Refueling Wing was the top tanker wing in fuel 

15 efficiency for fiscal year 2016 and 2017. 

16 (10) The 126th Maintenance Group spear17 headed the modeling of conditioned based mainte18 nance plus, the benchmark for all KC–135 units. 

19 (11) The 126th Air Refueling Wing supported 

20 the Illinois State Partnership Program, strength21 ening ties with the Polish Air Force during Joint 

22 Exercises BALTOPS/Clear Sky in 2018, flying 23 

23 sorties while offloading 875,000 pounds of fuel to 

24 102 receivers. 


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1 (12) The 126th Air Refueling Wing supported 

2 Joint Forces Domestic Operations in support of 

3 Hurricane Irma relief efforts in 2017. 

4 (13) The 126th Mission Support Group’s Logis5 tics Readiness Squadron was awarded the Air Na6 tional Guard’s Base Logistics Activity of the Year in 

7 2017. 

8 (14) The 126th Maintenance Group mantra of 

9 ‘‘Fix It Today Safely’’, combined with the overall 

10 126th Air Refueling Wing efforts, enabled aircraft to 

11 safely fly over 3,500 sorties and over 16,000 hours 

12 to refuel more than 2,700 U.S. Air Force and Allied 

13 aircraft in fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018. 

14 (15) Several members of the 126th Air Refuel15 ing Wing have received honors for their superior 

16 work, including: 

17 (A) #1 Paralegal in a Reserve Component 

18 for 2018 as awarded by Air Mobility Command 

19 and recognized by Judge Advocate General 

20 Corps; 

21 (B) #1 Intelligence, Surveillance, and Re22 connaissance Senior Noncommissioned Officer 

23 in Air Mobility Command for 2017; 

24 (C) #1 Noncommissioned Officer in the 

25 State of Illinois for 2018; 


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1 (D) #1 1st Sergeant in the State of Illi2 nois for 2018; and 

3 (E) #1 Airman in the State of Illinois for 

4 2017. 

5 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO DESIGNATE A CENTER OF EXCEL6 LENCE FOR KC–135R MAINTENANCE. 

7 The Secretary of the Air Force may designate the 

8 Illinois Air National Guard 126th Air Refueling Wing at 

9 Scott Air Force Base as a Center of Excellence for KC– 

10 135R maintenance operations. 

Æ 


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