Assessing Capabilities and Risks in Air Force Programming. Framework, Metrics, and Methods

Abstract

The goal of the defense budget is to deliver a portfolio of capabilities to meet a spectrum of uncertain future security environments. Despite progress in recent U.S. Air Force capabilities-based programming efforts, many limitations persist, and there are many disconnects between capability assessments and programming. To help mitigate these limitations, the findings presented here reexamine capabilities-based programming by introducing a new definition of capability metrics and a new set of algorithms for building and evaluating budgeting allocations. The capability metrics relate resources to operational-level activities in national plans, apply across a range of programs, and conform to programming boundaries. The algorithms provide the programmer with a means to quantitatively and reproducibly develop programming options in light of an uncertain future security environment, serving as a means to express capabilities and risks of resource allocations in terms of national planning objectives.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA497716

Entities

People

  • Adam C. Resnick
  • Brent D. Fulton
  • Don A. Snyder
  • Patrick Mills

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan Conflict
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Algorithms
  • Attrition
  • Basic Programming Language
  • Civil Engineering
  • Combat Operations
  • Combat Support
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Military Budgets
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Risk Analysis
  • Security
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Operations Research
  • Software Engineering.