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454 (b) The President may acquire, construct, or manufacture lighterthan-air craft, spare parts, and equipment necessary to provide and maintain 200 useful lighter-than-air craft. (c) In this section "useful naval airplanes" or "useful lighter-thanair craft" means those airplanes or lighter-than-air craft, as the casp may be, on the Navy list that are. or after reasonable repair can be made, in all respects safe to fly and fitted to take part in active military operations in time of war. The terms exclude those airplanes or aircraft classified as experimental or, with the approval of the Secretary, declared obsolete. § 7342. Percentage required to be constructed or manufactured in United States plants (a) At least 10 percent of the aircraft and aircraft engines procured for the naval service in any year shall be constructed or manufactured in plants owned and operated by the United States. (b) I n order not to curtail procurement of naval aircraft and engines, this section is inapplicable when the Secretary of the Navy determines that plants owned and operated by the United States are producing to the limit of their capacity. § 7343. Manufacture in United States plants under certain circumstances The President may construct or manufacture at any plant owned and operated by the United States any naval aircraft, or the engines, spare parts, or equipment for any such aircraft, if it reasonably appears that the persons, firms, or corporations, or the agents thereof, who are bidding on the construction or manufacture of any of these items— (1) have entered into a combination, agreement, or understanding, the effect or purpose of which is to deprive the United States of fair, open, and unrestricted competition in letting contracts for the construction or manufacture of any of the aircraft, engines, spare parts, or equipment; or (2) being solely or peculiarly in position to construct, manufacture, or furnish the particular type or design of aircraft, engines, spare parts, or equipment required by the Department of the Navy, have named a price in excess of cost of production plus a reasonable profit as provided in section 2382 of this title. § 7344. Suspension of construction in case of treaty I n case of a treaty for the limitation of naval armament to which the United States is a signatory, the President may suspend so much of the authorized naval construction as is necessary to bring the naval aircraft of the United States within the limitations agreed upon. Such a suspension does not apply to aircraft under construction at the time the suspension is made.
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