Strategic Rebalance of the Three Component Air Force

Abstract

In an era of restrictive budgets and mounting debt, leaders at the highest levels have called for creative solutions to ensure America can meet the future challenges to its national security interests. The U.S. military must decrease spending, particularly on ballooning manpower costs, while maintaining readiness, modernization, and adequate force structure. The Total Force concept has been a powerful and cost-effective collaboration between the Regular Air Force, the Air Force Reserve, and the Air National Guard together forming a synergistic Three-Component Air Force. Finding the right mix remains a difficult task and requires decision makers break Cold War force structure paradigms, consider advantageous mission capabilities, devise methods to preserve experience and capacity, and target efficiencies. The Air Reserve Component can be leveraged to assist in all these endeavors, while improving agility and reversibility of the force. However, changes in policy, law, and culture will be necessary to anchor institutional change.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA589197

Entities

People

  • Robert M. Kalteis

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air National Guard
  • Cold War
  • Employment
  • Force Structure
  • Law
  • Manpower
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Guard
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Terrorism
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design