MILITARY OPERATIONS AND OVERFLIGHTS, UTAH TEST AND TRAINING RANGE.

SEC. 382. MILITARY OPERATIONS AND OVERFLIGHTS, UTAH TEST AND TRAINING RANGE.(a) Findings.—The Congress finds the following:(1) The testing and development of military weapons systems and the training of military forces are critical to ensuring the national security of the United States.(2) The Utah Test and Training Range in the State of Utah is a unique and irreplaceable national asset at the core of the test and training mission of the Department of Defense.(3) The Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area designated by section 384, as well as several wilderness study areas, are located near lands withdrawn for military use or are beneath special use airspace critical to the support of military test and training missions at the Utah Test and Training Range.119 STAT. 3216(4) The Utah Test and Training Range and special use airspace withdrawn for military uses create unique management circumstances for the covered wilderness in this subtitle, and it is not the intent of Congress that passage of this subtitle shall be construed as establishing a precedent with respect to any future national conservation area or wilderness designation.(5) Continued access to the special use airspace and lands that comprise the Utah Test and Training Range, under the terms and conditions described in this subtitle, is a national security priority and is not incompatible with the protection and proper management of the natural, environmental, cultural, and other resources of such lands.(b) Overflights.—Nothing in this subtitle or the Wilderness Act shall preclude low-level overflights and operations of military aircraft, helicopters, missiles, or unmanned aerial vehicles over the covered wilderness, including military overflights and operations that can be seen or heard within the covered wilderness.(c) Special Use Airspace and Training Routes.—Nothing in this subtitle or the Wilderness Act shall preclude the designation of new units of special use airspace, the expansion of existing units of special use airspace, or the use or establishment of military training routes over the covered wilderness.(d) Communications and Tracking Systems.—Nothing in this subtitle shall prevent any required maintenance of existing communications, instrumentation, or electronic tracking systems (or infrastructure supporting such systems) or prevent the installation of new communication, instrumentation, or other equipment necessary for effective testing and training to meet military requirements in wilderness study areas located beneath special use airspace comprising the Utah Test and Training Range, including the Deep Creek, Fish Springs, Swasey Mountain, Howell Peak, Notch Peak, King Top, Wah Wah Mountain, and Conger Mountain units designated by the Department of Interior, so long as the Secretary of the Interior, after consultation with the Secretary of the Air Force, determines that the installation and maintenance of such systems, when considered both individually and collectively, comply with section 603 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782).(e) Emergency Access and Response.—Nothing in this subtitle or the Wilderness Act shall preclude the continuation of the memorandum of understanding in existence as of the date of the enactment of this Act between the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Air Force with respect to emergency access and response.(f) Prohibition on Ground Military Operations.—Except as provided in subsections (d) and (e), nothing in this section shall be construed to permit a military operation to be conducted on the ground in covered wilderness in the Utah Test and Training Range unless such ground operation is otherwise permissible under Federal law and consistent with the Wilderness Act.