Strategic Airlift: Strengths and Weaknesses

Abstract

Since 1981, there have been scores of studies written on how much airlift capability this nation needs to execute its national and military security strategies. What none of these studies focused on are the fundamental benefits that strategic airlift has over the other two components of strategic mobility-sealift and prepositioning. This paper will highlight these fundamental benefits by breaking strategic airlift into the basic components of airlift doctrine, organic military airlift, the Civil reserve Airlift Fleet (CRAF), and the en route system, then evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each component. From this assessment, recommendations will be made to improve strategic airlift in the future.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 07, 1999
Accession Number
ADA363830

Entities

People

  • James P. Sturch

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Airlift Operations
  • Command And Control
  • Commercial Aircraft
  • Logistics
  • Military Aircraft
  • National Security
  • Passenger Aircraft
  • Tanker Aircraft
  • Transport Aircraft
  • United States
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.