Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 44 Part 2.djvu/824

 nothing contained in this section shall affect the number of reserve officers that my be called to active duty for periods of less than six months under existing law.

—The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to equip and maintain the Air Corps with not to exceed one thousand eight hundred serviceable airplanes, and such number of airships and free and captive balloons as he may determine necessary for training purposes, together with spare parts, equipment, supplies, hangars, and installations necessary for the operation and maintenance thereof. In order to maintain the number specified above, the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to replace obsolete or unserviceable aircraft from time to time: Provided, That the necessary replacement of airplanes shall not exceed approximately four hundred annually: Provided, That the total number of airplanes and airships herein authorized shall be exclusive of those authorized by the Secretary of War to be placed in museums and those classified by the Secretary of War as obsolete: And provided further, That the total number of planes authorized in this section shall include the number necessary for the training and equipment of the National Guard and the training of the Organized Reserves as may be determined by the Secretary of War.

—The total increase in personnel and equipment authorized herein shall be distributed over a five-year period beginning July 1, 1926. Not to exceed one-fifth of the total increase shall be made during the first year, and the remainder in four approximately equal increments. The President is hereby authorized to submit to Congress annually estimates of the cost of carrying out the five-year program authorized herein: Provided, That a supplemental estimate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, may be submitted to cover the cost of the first annual increment.

That section 5a of the National Defense Act, as amended, be, and he same is hereby, amended by adding at the end of said section 5a the following:

"To aid the Secretary of War in fostering military aeronautics, and to perform such functions as the Secretary may direct, there shall be an additional Assistant Secretary of War who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and whose compensation shall be fixed in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923.

(a) that in order to encourage the development of aviation and improve the efficiency of the Army and Navy aeronautical material the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy, prior to the procurement of new designs of aircraft or aircraft parts or aeronautical accessories, shall by advertisement for a period of thirty days in at least three of the leading aeronautical journals and in such other manner as he may deem advisable, invite the submission in competition, by sealed communications, of such designs of aircraft, aircraft parts, and aeronautical accessories, together with a statement of the price for which such designs in whole or in part will be sold to the Government.

(b) The aforesaid advertisement shall specify a sufficient time, not less that sixty days from the expiration of the advertising period, within which all such communications containing designs and prices therefor must be submitted, and all such communications received shall be carefully kept sealed in the War Department or the Navy Department, as the case may be, until the expiration of said specified time, and no designs mailed after that time shall be received or considered. Said advertisement shall state in general terms the kind or aircraft parts, or accessories to be developed and