[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4513 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4513
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
September 26, 2019
Mr. Bost (for himself, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr.
Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Kinzinger, Ms. Kelly of
Illinois, and Mr. LaHood) 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Air National Guard Air Refueling
Wing Center of Excellence Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The 126th Air Refueling Wing has a long, decorated
history of exceeding its fiscal year goals in Mission Capable
Rate, Aircraft Availability, Hourly Use, Home Station Logistics
Departure Reliability, flying hours, sorties, and fuel
offloaded.
(2) The 126th Air Refueling Wing was the top performing KC-
135R unit in 2016, receiving the Air Force Outstanding Unit
Award.
(3) The 126th Air Refueling Wing had the highest mission
capable rating for all KC-135R aircraft, Active, Guard and
Reserve for fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018, and is on track
for fiscal year 2019, with a 89.06 percent mission capable
rating.
(4) The 126th Air Refueling Wing set the bar for home
station departure reliability rate, exceeding Air Mobility
Command's goal of 78 percent with a three-year average of 98.16
percent.
(5) The 126th Maintenance Group won the coveted Maintenance
Effectiveness Award for being the top Maintenance Group in best
Small Aircraft Maintenance unit category (<300 personnel) in
the Air National Guard for fiscal year 2017.
(6) The 126th Maintenance Group was the visionary of
``Project 14'', which is the premier 14-day KC-135 periodic
inspection model championed by the National Guard Bureau.
(7) The 126th Maintenance Group completed 17 periodic
inspections of aircraft and nine periodic inspections on other
units' KC-135s, increasing the mission capable rating by 8
percent and potentially setting the standard for periodic
inspection regionalization.
(8) The 126th Air Refueling Wing flew 27 black letter
flights (aircraft with zero discrepancies), including one
flight in CENTCOM to support the warfighter.
(9) Air Mobility Command awarded the 126th Air Refueling
Wing was the top tanker wing in fuel efficiency for fiscal year
2016 and 2017.
(10) The 126th Maintenance Group spearheaded the modeling
of conditioned based maintenance plus, the benchmark for all
KC-135 units.
(11) The 126th Air Refueling Wing supported the Illinois
State Partnership Program, strengthening ties with the Polish
Air Force during Joint Exercises BALTOPS/Clear Sky in 2018,
flying 23 sorties while offloading 875,000 pounds of fuel to
102 receivers.
(12) The 126th Air Refueling Wing supported Joint Forces
Domestic Operations in support of Hurricane Irma relief efforts
in 2017.
(13) The 126th Mission Support Group's Logistics Readiness
Squadron was awarded the Air National Guard's Base Logistics
Activity of the Year in 2017.
(14) The 126th Maintenance Group mantra of ``Fix It Today
Safely'', combined with the overall 126th Air Refueling Wing
efforts, enabled aircraft to safely fly over 3,500 sorties and
over 16,000 hours to refuel more than 2,700 U.S. Air Force and
Allied aircraft in fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018.
(15) Several members of the 126th Air Refueling Wing have
received honors for their superior work, including:
(A) #1 Paralegal in a Reserve Component for 2018 as
awarded by Air Mobility Command and recognized by Judge
Advocate General Corps;
(B) #1 Intelligence, Surveillance, and
Reconnaissance Senior Noncommissioned Officer in Air
Mobility Command for 2017;
(C) #1 Noncommissioned Officer in the State of
Illinois for 2018;
(D) #1 1st Sergeant in the State of Illinois for
2018; and
(E) #1 Airman in the State of Illinois for 2017.
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO DESIGNATE A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR KC-135R
MAINTENANCE.
The Secretary of the Air Force may 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.
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