Logistics—the transfer of personnel and materiel from one location to another, as well as the maintenance of that materiel—is essential for a military to be able to support an ongoing deployment or respond effectively to emergent threats. RAND has long provided guidance and effective solutions to military supply and logistics decisionmakers, resulting in significant savings, improved readiness and combat support, and unit flexibility.
Report
While the DoD is under pressure to reduce costs, meaningful savings from overseas posture changes would require choosing from a small set of options, each presenting benefit trade-offs. U.S. military presence contributes to assurance of allies, deterrence, contingency responsiveness, and security cooperation.
Research Brief
In an environment of fiscal constraints and shifting strategic needs, policymakers should carefully weigh the strategic capability effects, relative costs, and risks associated with potential changes to U.S. overseas military posture.
Report
Intratheater airlift delivers critical and time-sensitive supplies to deployed forces, but is it cost effective to use commercial, rather than organic Air Force, aircraft to supply this airlift?
Report
RAND assessed the savings potential of reconfiguring the U.S. Air Force's combat-coded F-35s into larger squadrons and adjusting the Primary Aerospace Vehicle Authorized mix across the Active and Reserve Components.
Report
RAND assessed the savings potential of reconfiguring the U.S. Air Force's combat-coded F-35s into larger squadrons and adjusting the Primary Aerospace Vehicle Authorized mix across the Active and Reserve Components.
Commentary
Both to repeat the successes of private military contracting and to avoid the mistakes of contractors in the recent wars, the Department of Defense must consider several points specific to security contractors, writes Molly Dunigan.
Report
The Army has provided the bulk of U.S. troops to Iraq and Afghanistan: over 1.5 million troop-years as of December 2011, and 54 percent of all active component troop-year deployments within the area of operations.
Commentary
Tapper spends too much time providing tactical details of battles and too little offering a nuanced, thoughtful explanation of why the U.S. Army struggled so much in Nuristan, writes Seth G. Jones.
Report
Reviews the Army's achievements in implementing best purchasing and supply management practices and describes how this progress compares with that of leading commercial enterprises.
Report
Building on RAND work examining the cost-effectiveness of modernizing the U.S. Air Force's KC-10 aerial refueling tanker to comply with airspace modernization mandates, this study extended the analysis to the C-5, C-17, C-130, and KC-135 fleets.
Report
Documents the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems program's history, from inception to cancellation, and draws lessons from its experiences.
Report
Depot purchased equipment maintenance (DPEM) funds the bulk of the work done at Air Force depots that does not involve the repair of spares or work on modification programs. This report analyzes how to better program for DPEM.
Report
This report presents an analysis of historical use of air-to-ground attacks to assess the economic wisdom of relying primarily on expendable weapons, such as cruise missiles.
Report
Recommends changes that can be made to the structure and management of the Air Force's Force Support officer career field to better align development of functional competencies with positional demand for those competencies.
Report
Provides a guide for the design and improvement of Department of Defense supply chain policy, structure, and management practices, along with associated opportunities for efficiency gains.
Report
In many cases, the available space on a Marine Expeditionary Unit's ships falls far short of what is needed to transport the full set of required equipment. A RAND-developed software tool was designed to help limit the effects of these shortfalls.
Report
Effective ''cradle-to-grave'' management of weapon and materiel systems requires ongoing assessment of life cycle sustainment data -- information about the operation, support, and disposal of Army equipment -- available in Standard Army Management Information Systems.
Report
A congressionally mandated review of the proposed restructuring of Air Force Materiel Command examined the proposal and its effect on life-cycle management, weapon system sustainment, and overall support to the warfighter.
Report
The Air Force is planning to modernize its automatic testing capabilities for electronics by moving to modern, common families of test equipment. This report focuses on the economic aspect of this process.
Report
Examines the Army's supplier relationship management practices, identifying best practices and focusing on how the Army can gain better performance and reduce total costs.
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