Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. DeSANTIS. Madam Chair, I rise to commend the Armed Services Committee for their hard work. There is a lot going on, and they deserve a lot of credit.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to highlight an aircraft that is a vital component of our national security, and particularly to our Navy. That is the E-2D Hawkeye, which is the Navy's carrier-based airborne early warning and battle management command and control system. It provides theater air and missile defense, synthesizing information from multiple onboard and off-board sensors, making complex tactical decisions, and disseminating actionable information to Joint Forces.

Our ability to take an aircraft carrier and move that anywhere in the world and then project power from there is critical to our national security, and the E-2D serves as the eyes of the fleet, protecting our assets and our forces. I just want to say that I think it is vitally important that our fleet is equipped with these.

There is no better person that I know of in this body to speak to the importance of the E-2D than my colleague from Oklahoma, Jim Bridenstine, who is also a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve and is a former E-2 pilot himself. So I will yield to my friend from Oklahoma to discuss the importance of this aircraft.

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