Anthony Atler

Air Force Special Warfare operators conduct physically and mentally challenging missions. For this career field, specialized assessment and selection of future operators is required. The authors examine the programs for assessing and selecting personnel for AFSPECWAR, identify job-relevant attributes, consider how these attributes should be weighted for candidate selection, and improve the accuracy of raters' evaluations of candidates.

The Air Force uses the Strength Aptitude Test (SAT) to determine whether recruits meet the fitness levels needed to perform the duties of various Air Force specialties with physical strength requirements. However, these duties may have changed since the SAT was developed. This report evaluates the SAT and related fitness tests to identify strategies for ensuring airmen can meet job-related physical requirements.

Comparing U.S. Army Systems with Foreign Counterparts: Identifying Possible Capability Gaps and Insights from Other Armies contrasts selected U.S. Army systems and capabilities with comparable foreign weapons. The research focused on armored fighting vehicles, helicopters, rocket and cannon artillery, and various logistics platforms. The armies that were selected for the comparisons included U.S. allies as well as potential future opponents.

This report presents an analysis of the factors that govern escalatory risk from U.S. policy options during periods of peace, crisis, or war. The analysis combines theoretical and historical research with a current assessment of Chinese and Russian views of escalation. The research provides the basis for building a framework that could be useful to the U.S. Army and policymakers to assess the possible effects of proposed policy actions.

The authors of this report draw on Russian-language sources to examine trends in Russian personnel policies and initiatives from the 1990s through December 2021, prior to Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They review the pervasive challenges within the Russian military to modernizing its personnel policies and evaluate reform efforts of the late 2000s through 2021, when major military reforms were implemented.

Deploying private military actors allows Russia to expand its military footprint while maintaining plausible deniability of direct involvement in military operations. An adaptation of the RAND-developed military will-to-fight model highlights opportunities to counter these actors and target potential vulnerabilities through cognitive maneuver at the individual, team, organizational, state, and societal levels.

In many cases, the available space on a Marine Expeditionary Unit s (MEU s) ships falls far short of what is needed to transport the full set of required equipment. A RAND-developed software tool, the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Equipment Structural Assessment (MESA) application, was designed to assist MEU mission planners in maximizing the effectiveness of limited equipment inventories."

Land-based anti-ship missiles (ASMs) feature prominently in the capabilities of many island nations in the Western Pacific, but the United States currently lacks such systems. This report illustrates the potential strategic advantages of the United States working with partners to build a coalition ASM capability, particularly in the event of a conflict with China, and includes an assessment of logistical challenges and positioning approaches.