USAF Civil Reserve Air Fleet Aeromedical Evacuation Airlift Capability

The Department of Defense, USAF, and Air Mobility Command (AMC) rely on the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) to provide supplemental airlift in times of national emergency. AMC oversees the CRAF program which contains three segments: international, national, and aeromedical evacuation. The CRAF Aeromedical Evacuation (AE) program involves commercial B-767 aircraft, Aeromedical Evacuation Shipsets (AESS), a Casualty Transfer System, and a large number of support personnel and equipment. Wartime planning in the early 1980s revealed a significant shortage of military airlift to accomplish the aeromedical evacuation mission. Consequently the CRAF AE program was initiated. Planning for Major Regional Conflict scenarios has currently set a requirement for 25 and 44 B-767 aircraft for CRAF Stages II and III, respectively. Unfortunately AMC has not been able to acquire full commitment to the CRAF AE program.