Ronald G McGarvey

The U.S. Air Force has a goal of reducing the life cycle operating and support (O&S) costs of the F-35A. Maintenance manpower is a significant driver of O&S costs, and consolidation and reorganization of career fields could reduce manpower and training costs. The authors of this report evaluate the costs and benefits of six F-35A maintenance manpower force structures in the U.S. Air Force that merge maintenance career fields in different ways.

Recent Office of the Secretary of Defense planning guidance directs the services to plan for high levels of engagement and deployed operations, although their nature, locations, durations, and intensity may be unknown. This book synthesizes the results of the initial phases of a study of the basic issues and premises on which the Air Force plans, organizes, and operates its logistics enterprise.

As Pacific Air Forces pursues evolving operational concepts of employment designed to improve operational resiliency, questions about the fragility of the combat support (CS) enterprise persist. This report presents a framework to assess necessary elements of the CS enterprise--including base, theater, and global resources--for operating in a hybrid push-pull system as a means to mitigate uncertainty and adversary actions.

The ability to rapidly deploy forces into austere locations is essential to the global power projection concept of operation. Materiel used by such expeditionary forces often does not deploy with the unit but is instead sourced from a global network of prepositioning storage locations. Alternative approaches to storing combat support materiel might provide better support to deploying forces in an expeditionary environment.

Analyses demonstrate how F-16 and KC-135 aircraft maintenance units can be reconfigured to support mission generation operations, with heavy maintenance such as aircraft phase inspections reassigned to a network of centralized repair facilities. This approach identifies options that either exceed current maintenance capabilities at current cost levels or meet required capability levels at reduced cost.

This monograph details an analysis of the use of Centralized Intermediate Repair Facilities (CIRFs) to provide off-equipment component repair for CONUS-based fighter aircraft, supporting both training and deployment scenarios. It presents an analytic method for CIRF network design that generates a range of cost-effective alternatives. It identifies CIRF alternatives that achieve increased efficiency without reducing combat support capability.It evaluates CONUS use of Centralized Intermediate Repair Facilities for off-equipment repair of aircraft components and presents analytic network design method developed for the identification of cost-efficient alternatives for such networks.

This monograph describes some of the research that has been conducted on the military combat support system. It identifies the elements of sense and respond combat support and shows what is necessary to implement the concept. The monograph points out the need for both predictive tools and responsive systems working together. It also describes elements of one of the key enabler of sense and response combat support, combat support command and control.

Evaluates options for Air National Guard combat support and reachback missions in four Air Force mission areas to support the Air and Space Expeditionary Force, investigates transformational opportunities for the ANG that would add the most value in achieving the desired operational effects, and considers how changes in unit and above-unit policies are likely to affect Total Force capabilities.

Evaluates global forward support locations (FSLs) for storing war reserve materiel and presents a framework for evaluating FSL options 450-character abstract: The U.S. Air Force is committed to the Air and Space Expeditionary Force concept and the transformation that is necessary for it to project power quickly to any region of the world. Forward positioning of heavy war reserve materiel (WRM) in optimal forward support locations (FSLs) is key to the Air Force's ability to respond to a wide variety of scenarios. This monograph evaluates a set of global FSL basing and transportation options for storing WRM and presents an analytical framework for evaluating alternative FSL options.