Putting Tactical Back into Theater Airlift

Abstract

The once clear distinctions between strategic and tactical airlift is becoming increasingly more clouded. The Theater CINCs are concerned over the readiness of theater airlift to meet their theater needs. This together with the added emphasis on unity of command created by the Goldwaters-Nichols Act of 1986 is creating a growing desire by the Theater CINCs to reacquire command of theater airlift from the Military Airlift Command (MAC). This study explains why tactical and strategic airlift were consolidated into MAC and outlines the Theater Airlift Manager (TAM) system. With that as background, the author shows how tactical airlift has been assimilated by the strategic mission, thus diluting the emphasis on tactical airlift, and how this is causing concern for MAC's responsiveness to the theater airlift needs. The paper concludes that the benefits of the single manager concept outweigh the duplication of efforts which will result from returning command to the Theater CINC. A number of recommendations are made including a change in policy by the Air Force to reemphasize the distinct differences between strategic and tactical airlift.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 11, 1991
Accession Number
ADA236729

Entities

People

  • John D. Daly

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Air Transportation
  • Aircrafts
  • Airlift Operations
  • Airplanes
  • Command And Control
  • Department Of Defense
  • Fixed Wing Aircraft
  • Health Services
  • Recognition
  • Training
  • Transport Aircraft
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.