Civil Reserve Air Fleet

This monograph discusses the potential for a strategic airlift strategy-capabilities mismatch by the year 2000 as the Department of Defense reduces and restructures its ground, air, and sea forces and concurrently refocuses its strategy for the next decade. This monograph examines the projected roles, missions, and capabilities of a fiscally constrained force operating within the framework of a dramatically reshaped National Security Strategy. The focus of this monograph is narrowed to primarily review the rapid force projection mission of the Army and the capability of the air cargo system to respond rapidly to it. The monograph first briefly examines the history of the first forty years of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) and its support to the Military Airlift Command (MAC) then culminates with its call to duty and performance during Operation Desert Shield end Desert Storm. Next, it examines the projected mobility requirements for the next decade and the start of the next century. The potential for a strategy-capabilities mismatch was examined by comparing the balance between the requirement to maintain an efficient, modern, and combat-ready active duty air force fleet, the potential CRAF contribution, and the need for a strong U.S. civil aviation industry. The U.S. will have a strategy-capabilities mismatch unless the Department of Defense provides increased priority to the mobility triad.