Rethinking How the Air Force Views Sustainment Surge
Abstract
Each of the military services, including the Air Force, faces the challenge of keeping its weapon systems in good repair so that they are ready to be used in battle during wartime and for training in times of peace. Sustainment, or repair and maintenance, is an ongoing requirement to be planned for and managed. There are variations in the level of support required to fix weapon systems, generally based on how heavily the systems are used. Sustainment surge describes the increase in the requirement to repair weapon systems and components during the increased operational demands of wartime or contingency operations. Core capabilities are loosely understood to be skills that should be retained by government employees in government-owned facilities so that they are prepared to respond to surge requirements. Planning for surge is an ongoing activity that the Air Force and the other services need to have in place. The threat environment faced by the United States, which drives sustainment surge planning, changes over time. A recent shift in discussions of the security environment highlights four security challenges: traditional challenges from states employing legacy and advanced military capabilities and recognizable military forces in known forms of conflict, thus challenging our power; irregular challenges from unconventional methods adopted by non-state actors to counter stronger state opponents, they eroding our power; disruptive challenges from international competitors that develop breakthrough technological capabilities to supplant U.S. advantages, thus marginalizing our power; and catastrophic challenges from terrorists and rogue states that use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or WMD-like effects, thus paralyzing our power. In this research, we examine whether changes in the security environment and in the nature of conflicts for which the Air Force prepares are adequately reflected in the planning and execution of sustainment surge operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA449328
Entities
People
- Charles R. Roll Jr.
- Cynthia R. Cook
- John A. Ausink
Organizations
- RAND Corporation