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Recent operations have shed light on shortfalls in Air Force intratheater airlift. Using an expanded strategies-to-tasks framework, the authors assess current intratheater airlift processes, organizations, doctrine, training, and systems. This report catalogues identified shortfalls and recommends options for improving the Theater Distribution System. The authors recommend separation of supply, demand, and integrator roles and adoption of a closed-loop planning and execution process.
As the Air Force faces manpower end-strength reductions of approximately 40,000 active duty personnel, it becomes more difficult to support the air and space expeditionary force (AEF) construct using current force employment practices. These manpower reductions could leave the active component without sufficient end-strength personnel authorizations to support current operational requirements. The Air National Guard (ANG), on the other hand, will not undergo significant manpower reductions, but it will be affected by the Air Force structure planning under way in support of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and Base Realignments and Closure (BRAC) that calls for the retirement of a significant number of legacy aircraft. This could potentially leave the ANG with a large number of highly trained, highly experienced personnel with no aircraft to operate and support.
VANGUARD is the Air National Guard (ANG) long-range transformation program. It calls for the ANG to evaluate new concepts, prepare for new missions, and adopt a new culture that capitalizes on ANG strengths and ensures that the ANG continues to add value as warfighters and to warfighters in the future while remaining ready, reliable and accessible. One way to support warfighting and warfighters is to continue to support the Air and Space Expeditionary Force (AEF), a concept developed by the Air Force to allow quick response, when appropriate, to national security interests with a tailored, sustainable force. The ANG already plays an important role in the AEF during wartime operations. This m...
As part of a series on supporting the Air and Space Expeditionary Force, this report looks at the current operational architecture for incorporating combat support command and control (CSC2) and proposes an expanded architecture for the future.
The Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) currently runs three in-theater hospitals for severely injured or wounded personnel. Part of the practioners' preparation was treating DoD beneficiaries for a broad range of injuries and illnesses. Opportunities for this preparation are not as numerous "in house" as they once were, and AFMS does not always get proper credit for those gained elsewhere. Proper credit for that work is important for funding.
Space assets are vital to the economic, social, and military interests of the United States, but these interests can conflict with one another, especially when it comes to space system sustainment. The authors worked with Air Force Space Command to develop a sustainment philosophy based on separation of demand, supply, and integrator processes and clear definition of responsibilities, using specific systems and units for illustration.
Using a case study based on the Army's new Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the authors explore how the Army might improve its ability to contribute to prompt, global power projection, that is, strategically responsive early-entry forces for time-critical events. The authors examine options to reach a dual goal: to initiate deployment of the right force capabilities, and then get those capabilities where they need to be as quickly as possible.
Change--in international relations, in technology, and in society as a whole--has become the idiom of our age. One example of these changes has been an increasing recognition of the value of air and space assets for handling nearly every contingency from disaster relief to war and, onsequently, increasing demand for such assets. These developments have created both challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Air Force. This, the fourth volume in the Strategic Appraisal series, draws on the expertise of researchers from across RAND to explore both the challenges and opportunities that the U.S. Air Force faces as it strives to support the nation's interests in a challenging technological and security environment.Contributors examine the changing roles of air and space forces in U.S.national security strategy, the implications of new systems and technologiesfor military operations, and the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. securitystrategy. Contributors also discuss the status of major modernizationefforts within the Air Force, and the bill of health of the Air Force, asmeasured by its readiness to undertake its missions both today and in thefuture.