H. R. 5122—27
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The requirement in paragraph (1) 
shall become effective with the budget request for the year 
of procurement of the first ship referred to in subsection (a). 
SEC. 
127. 
MULTIYEAR 
PROCUREMENT 
AUTHORITY 
FOR 
V–22 
TILTROTOR AIRCRAFT PROGRAM. 
The Secretary of the Navy, in accordance with section 2306b 
of title 10, United States Code, and acting as executive agent 
for the Secretary of the Air Force and the commander of the 
United States Special Operations Command, may enter into a 
multiyear contract, beginning with the fiscal year 2008 program 
year, for procurement of V–22 tiltrotor aircraft. 
SEC. 128. ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR FUTURE SURFACE 
COMBATANTS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Securing and maintaining access to affordable and 
plentiful sources of energy is a vital national security interest 
for the United States. 
(2) The Nation’s dependence upon foreign oil is a threat 
to national security due to the inherently volatile nature of 
the global oil market and the political instability of some of 
the world’s largest oil producing states. 
(3) Given the recent increase in the cost of crude oil, 
which cannot realistically be expected to improve over the 
long term, other energy sources must be seriously considered. 
(4) Alternate propulsion sources such as nuclear power 
offer many advantages over conventional power for major sur-
face combatant ships of the Navy, including—
(A) virtually unlimited high-speed endurance; 
(B) elimination of vulnerable refueling; and 
(C) reduction in the requirement for replenishment 
vessels and the need to protect those vessels. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—In light of the findings in subsection 
(a), it is the sense of Congress that the Navy should make greater 
use of alternative technologies, including expanded application of 
integrated power systems, fuel cells, and nuclear power, for propul-
sion of future major surface combatant ships. 
(c) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of the Navy shall include 
integrated power systems, fuel cells, and nuclear power as propul-
sion alternatives to be evaluated within the analysis of alternatives 
for future major surface combatant ships. 
SEC. 129. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE SIZE OF THE ATTACK 
SUBMARINE FORCE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The United States Navy must be large enough, agile 
enough, and lethal enough to deter any threat and defeat 
any foe. 
(2) The proliferation of modern nuclear and nonnuclear 
submarines in the navies of nations around the globe will 
make undersea superiority a more significant challenge in the 
future. 
(3) The unique combination of firepower, stealth, sensors, 
and communications equipment contained in a modern attack 
submarine make the attack submarine a critical component 
of the Armed Forces of the United States.
H. R. 5122—28
(4) The report entitled ‘‘Report to Congress on Annual 
Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels for fiscal 
year 2007’’, submitted to Congress by the Secretary of the 
Navy pursuant to section 231 of title 10, United States Code—
(A) identifies future naval force structure requirements 
indexed to Department of Defense fiscal year 2020 threat 
assessments and compliant with the Fiscal Year 2006 
Quadrennial Defense Review and, with respect to the 
attack submarine force, identifies a need for the Navy 
to maintain a fleet of not less than 48 attack submarines; 
and 
(B) projects that the attack submarine force will fall 
below 48 vessels between 2020 and 2032. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—In light of the findings in subsection 
(a), it is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of the Navy 
should take all reasonable effort to accelerate the construction 
of Virginia Class submarines to maintain the attack submarine 
force structure at not less than 48 submarines and (if the number 
of attack submarines should fall below 48), to minimize the period 
the attack submarine force remains below 48 vessels. 
SEC. 130. QUALITY CONTROL IN PROCUREMENT OF SHIP CRITICAL 
SAFETY ITEMS AND RELATED SERVICES. 
(a) QUALITY CONTROL POLICY.—The Secretary of Defense shall 
prescribe in regulations a quality control policy for the procurement 
of the following: 
(1) Ship critical safety items. 
(2) Modifications, repair, and overhaul of ship critical safety 
items. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The policy required under subsection (a) shall 
include requirements as follows: 
(1) That the head of the design control activity for ship 
critical safety items establish processes to identify and manage 
the procurement, modification, repair, and overhaul of such 
items. 
(2) That the head of the contracting activity for a ship 
critical safety item enter into a contract for the procurement, 
modification, repair, or overhaul of such item only with a source 
on a qualified manufacturers list or a source approved by 
the design control activity in accordance with section 2319 
of title 10, United States Code (as amended by subsection 
(d)). 
(3) That the ship critical safety items delivered, and the 
services performed with respect to such items, meet all technical 
and quality requirements specified by the design control 
activity. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘ship critical safety 
item’’ and ‘‘design control activity’’ have the meanings given such 
terms in subsection (g) of section 2319 of title 10, United States 
Code (as so amended). 
(d) CONFORMING
AMENDMENTS.—Section 2319 of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting ‘‘or ship critical safety 
item’’ after ‘‘aviation critical safety item’’; and 
(2) in subsection (g)—
(A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3);
H. R. 5122—29
(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new 
paragraph (2): 
‘‘(2) The term ‘ship critical safety item’ means any ship 
part, assembly, or support equipment containing a char-
acteristic the failure, malfunction, or absence of which could 
cause a catastrophic or critical failure resulting in loss of or 
serious damage to the ship or unacceptable risk of personal 
injury or loss of life.’’; and 
(C) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated—
(i) by inserting ‘‘or ship critical safety item’’ after 
‘‘aviation critical safety item’’; 
(ii) by inserting ‘‘, or the seaworthiness of a ship 
or ship equipment,’’ after ‘‘equipment’’; and 
(iii) by striking ‘‘the item’’ and inserting ‘‘such 
item’’. 
Subtitle D—Air Force Programs 
SEC. 131. BOMBER FORCE STRUCTURE. 
(a) REQUIREMENT FOR B–52 FORCE STRUCTURE.—
(1) RETIREMENT LIMITATION.—During the B–52 retirement 
limitation period, the Secretary of the Air Force—
(A) may not retire more than 18 B–52 aircraft; and 
(B) shall maintain not less than 44 such aircraft as 
combat-coded aircraft. 
(2) B–52 RETIREMENT LIMITATION PERIOD.—For purposes 
of paragraph (1), the B–52 retirement limitation period is the 
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act 
and ending on the date that is the earlier of—
(A) January 1, 2018; and 
(B) the date as of which a long-range strike replace-
ment aircraft with equal or greater capability than the 
B–52H model aircraft has attained initial operational capa-
bility status. 
(b) LIMITATION ON RETIREMENT PENDING REPORT ON BOMBER 
FORCE STRUCTURE.—
(1) LIMITATION.—No funds authorized to be appropriated 
for the Department of Defense may be obligated or expended 
for retiring any of the 93 B–52H bomber aircraft in service 
in the Air Force as of the date of the enactment of this Act 
until 45 days after the date on which the Secretary of the 
Air Force submits the report specified in paragraph (2). 
(2) REPORT.—A report specified in this subsection is a 
report submitted by the Secretary of the Air Force to the 
Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House 
of Representatives on the amount and type of bomber force 
structure of the Air Force, including the matters specified in 
paragraph (4). 
(3) AMOUNT
AND
TYPE
OF
BOMBER
FORCE
STRUCTURE 
DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘amount and type of 
bomber force structure’’ means the number of each of the fol-
lowing types of aircraft that are required to carry out the 
national security strategy of the United States: 
(A) B–2 bomber aircraft. 
(B) B–52H bomber aircraft. 
(C) B–1 bomber aircraft.
H. R. 5122—30
(4) MATTER TO BE INCLUDED.—A report under paragraph 
(2) shall include the following: 
(A) The plan of the Secretary of the Air Force for 
the modernization of the B–52, B–1, and B–2 bomber air-
craft fleets. 
(B) The amount and type of bomber force structure 
for the conventional mission and strategic nuclear mission 
in executing two overlapping ‘‘swift defeat’’ campaigns. 
(C) A justification of the cost and projected savings 
of any reductions to the B–52H bomber aircraft fleet as 
a result of the retirement of the B–52H bomber aircraft 
covered by the report. 
(D) The life expectancy of each bomber aircraft to 
remain in the bomber force structure. 
(E) The capabilities of the bomber force structure that 
would be replaced, augmented, or superseded by any new 
bomber aircraft. 
(5) PREPARATION OF REPORT.—A report under paragraph 
(2) shall be prepared by the Institute for Defense Analyses 
and submitted to the Secretary of the Air Force for submittal 
by the Secretary in accordance with that paragraph. 
SEC. 132. STRATEGIC AIRLIFT FORCE STRUCTURE. 
Section 8062 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(g)(1) Effective October 1, 2008, the Secretary of the Air Force 
shall maintain a total aircraft inventory of strategic airlift aircraft 
of not less than 299 aircraft. 
‘‘(2) In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) The term ‘strategic airlift aircraft’ means an aircraft—
‘‘(i) that has a cargo capacity of at least 150,000 pounds; 
and 
‘‘(ii) that is capable of transporting outsized cargo an 
unrefueled range of at least 2,400 nautical miles. 
‘‘(B) The term ‘outsized cargo’ means any single item of 
equipment that exceeds 1,090 inches in length, 117 inches 
in width, or 105 inches in height.’’. 
SEC. 133. LIMITATION ON RETIREMENT OF U–2 AIRCRAFT. 
(a) FISCAL YEAR 2007.—The Secretary of the Air Force may 
not retire any U–2 aircraft of the Air Force in fiscal year 2007. 
(b) YEARS AFTER FISCAL YEAR 2007.—
(1) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—After fiscal year 2007, the 
Secretary of the Air Force may retire a U–2 aircraft only 
if the Secretary of Defense certifies to Congress that the intel-
ligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities pro-
vided by the U–2 aircraft no longer contribute to mitigating 
any gaps in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance 
capabilities identified in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review. 
(2) LIMITATIONS.—No action may be taken by the Depart-
ment of Defense to retire (or to prepare to retire) any U–
2 aircraft before a certification specified in paragraph (1) is 
submitted to Congress. If such a certification is submitted, 
no such action may be taken until after the end of the 60-
day period beginning on the date on which the certification 
is submitted.