[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 13, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2012

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                               speech of

                          HON. ADAM KINZINGER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 23, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2219) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal 
     year September 30, 2012, and for other purposes:

  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Chair, there is no bigger supporter in 
this body of the Air Force than me. For nearly ten years, I have been 
privileged to serve my country in the Air Force and Air National Guard 
as a pilot. During that time I often thought, ``If I am willing to 
fight for my country on the outside, I must be willing to defend and 
preserve our country for future generations on the inside.'' Today I 
rise in support of my amendment to the Department of Defense 
Appropriations Act, H.R. 2219. My amendment would save the U.S. 
taxpayers nearly $100 million by not allowing the Air Force to 
redevelop the current flight suit.
  Since coming to this House, my colleagues and I have been working 
diligently to determine essential versus non-essential government 
spending projects. One area I wanted to examine more closely was a $100 
million project to develop a new flight suit for the Air Force, called 
the ``Integrated Aircrew Ensemble.'' This flight suit is not being 
developed in response to specific needs of the Air Force's next-
generation fighter, the F-35 Lightning II. Rather, it is designed to 
integrate the already existing protections which are included in our 
current flight suit.
  In February, at the Air Force's 2012 budget hearing, Chief of Staff 
General Norton Schwartz was asked--at my request--whether the Air Force 
was developing a new flight suit. General Schwartz stated, ``We are not 
in the business of redesigning our flight suit under the current 
circumstances.'' Since his testimony, General Schwartz said this quote 
is ``accurate but incomplete,'' and does not represent his position on 
the flight suit contract.
  Our office met with management from TIAX LLC, the company awarded the 
contract. After reviewing the information from TIAX and speaking with 
many of my fellow pilots who fly different aircrafts, I remain 
confident that the current flight suit provides more than adequate 
protection.
  Over the past 10 years, the Air National Guard has not had a single 
G-LOC (induced loss of consciousness due to excessive G-force) Class A 
mishap, while the Air Force has had 5 G-LOC Class A mishaps. Of those 5 
Air Force Class A mishaps, 3 occurred in an F-16 aircraft, while the 
other two occurred in a T-6 and T-37, respectively. The Air Force was 
unable to provide details surrounding the T-6 and T-37 Class A mishaps; 
however, they were able to provide the details surrounding each of the 
F-16 Class A mishaps. In each of those cases, the pilot flying the F-16 
was performing Basic Fighter Maneuvers (BFM) under the supervision of 
an instructor pilot. It is important to note that all of these 
accidents took place in a training environment and by young pilots 
still honing their skills. In none of the executive summary reports 
surrounding those accidents was the flight suit noted as a contributing 
factor toward causing G-LOC.
  For these reasons, it is my strong belief that updating and 
integrating the flight suit will not be the panacea that proponents of 
the program claim in terms of protecting against these types of G-LOC 
Class A mishaps. Protecting against G-LOC has much more to do with the 
innate physical abilities of our pilots and the training they receive 
than any flight suit they will wear.
  These findings led me to offer an amendment to the National Defense 
Authorization Act (NDAA) to postpone the flight suit development and 
save taxpayers nearly $100 million. This amendment was adopted into the 
NDAA, which passed the House by a vote of 322-96.
  Many of my colleagues in the House support this amendment, including 
Congressman Sam Johnson (R-Texas), a twenty-nine-year Air Force 
veteran, former POW in Vietnam, former Director of the Fighter Weapons 
School and pilot with the Thunderbirds. He said, ``With men and women 
in harm's way in three different wars, the Air Force shouldn't even 
think about using scarce dollars for new flight suits.''
  My other colleague, Congressman Pete Olson (R-Texas) said, ``As a 
former Navy Aviator, I know firsthand that our current flight suits 
provide all of the protection and comfort our aviators need. Our nation 
is facing record debt and deficits and as such, we must apply careful 
scrutiny over every new project we are looking to fund. If I thought 
for one second that our pilots were in danger, I would be the first to 
support a new flight suit, but the reality is that this is a $100M 
solution looking for a problem.''
  Senator Kirk (R-IL) also stated, ``While nothing takes precedence 
over protecting and arming our troops in the field, we still have a 
responsibility to protect taxpayers from excessive spending. Given our 
current fiscal situation, we must make tough decisions to ensure that 
tax dollars are spent efficiently--even at the Pentagon. Cutting a $100 
million program the Air Force says it does not need is exactly the kind 
of spending restraint the American people want to see from Congress.''
  Make no mistake, I am committed to ensuring our military is the 
strongest and best equipped in the world. However, we must make tough 
decisions with regard to military needs and military wants. I was sent 
to Washington to make difficult decisions, even those that require the 
military to prioritize its spending.

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