Should Air Force Reserve Command Continue Pursuing CAF DMO for Its F-16 Fleet?

The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is currently developing Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) capability for its Combat Air Forces (CAF) aircraft simulators. With the necessary upgrades, reserve pilots can train in a Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) environment while reducing the need to fly actual sorties for training. AFRC is committed to this new technology but lacks the funding to complete DMO upgrades for its F-16 Multi Task Trainers (MTT). The A-10 DMO program is progressing while the F-16 DMO program remains stagnant. This paper discusses the roadblocks to CAF DMO and determines if AFRC should continue pursing DMO capability for its F-16 MTTs. It provides a background of DMO, reviews the current state of AFRC DMO, discusses some advantages and disadvantages of DMO, and analyzes issues affecting the AFRC DMO program.