Organizing, training, and equipping armed forces for combat is essential to ensure their success in the field. RAND research provides military decisionmakers with information and analyses to implement effective support, training, and acquisition policies that ensure the highest level of operational readiness, even in the face of increasingly fluid combat environments.
REPORT
An evaluation of potential logistics applications for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) determines whether they are technically feasible, operationally feasible, and more cost-effective than other options. Six factors are identified that can be used to compare UAS and non-UAS based solutions to logistics tasks.
REPORT
Readiness problems associated with newly fielded systems are relevant to both combat effectiveness and public perception. When new equipment comes into the Army, it is often fielded on a unit-by-unit basis, so the "initial" fielding can take many years. This report demonstrates the feasibility of using demands from earlier fieldings to improve push packages as equipment is fielded to successive units.
COMMENTARY
As America embarks on a tough strategic journey in the aftermath of Iraq, and contends with an ailing economy, it is wise to be mindful of the difference between hope and fact, writes Paula G. Thornhill.
REPORT
This technical report describes the benefits of reallocating certain maintenance activities between mission-generation locations and a repair network, options to support the C-130, and consolidating repair network activities to centralized repair facilities. The report also provides an initial assessment of maintenance concepts that integrate wing-level and depot-level maintenance processes.
REPORT
Over the past decade, U.S. Marine Corps intelligence has had to tailor its organization to meet the evolving demands of the operational environment. A broad review of its design examined how to align it efficiently and effectively with current and future missions and functions.
REPORT
Air Force range managers are responsible for scheduling the ranges and infrastructures units need for critical, realistic testing and training, sometimes on short notice. They must also supply associated requirements, which requires information and understanding. To aid this, the authors offer an example method that marries the Center Scheduling Enterprise with an update of an existing RAND tool (provided on CD).
RESEARCH BRIEF
Summarizes results of a RAND Corporation study on sexual orientation and U.S. military policy requested by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Secretary of Defense in order to weigh repeal of the law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
REPORT
The U.S. military services and the combatant commands have reported vacancies in funded officer billets, a situation that can have adverse effects on organizational performance and mission readiness. By examining options for using alternative mixes of military manpower, the authors conclude that there may be opportunities to better leverage enlisted personnel, warrant officers, and limited-duty officers in some billets designated for…
REPORT
This study on sexual orientation and U.S. military policy, requested by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Secretary of Defense in order to weigh repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, examines public and military opinion on allowing gay men and lesbians to serve without restriction; research on sexual orientation, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention; and experiences of domestic agencies and foreign militaries.
REPORT
The Navy is increasingly dependent on networks and associated net-centric operations to conduct military missions, so a vital goal is to establish and maintain dependable networks for ship and multiship networks. The authors develop a framework for measuring the dependability of naval networks and describe a software tool for modeling the impact that individual network components have on overall mission operational availability.
REPORT
The U.S. military training system is the envy of many countries around the world, but the militaries of China, France, the UK, India, and Israel can help the U.S. identify different approaches to readiness, adaptability, and operational issues.
REPORT
Recent stabilization and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq have underlined the need for the United States to shift the burden of these operations away from the Defense Department and onto other government agencies better suited to the work.
REPORT
Constrained budgets and increasing costs have forced the U.S. Navy to search for ways to reduce the annual operating costs of the fleet. One expensive driver of those costs is underway training of surface combatant ship crews. Focusing on the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class of surface combatants, RAND examines whether and how increased use of simulators could be substituted for underway training without any decrease in readiness.
REPORT
The Iraq debate is focused on whether to legislate the time that soldiers must be at home between overseas deployments. Stretched Thin discusses how to assess the tradeoffs among the number of combat units, the level of Iraq deployments, and the time that soldiers have at home.
REPORT
The Department of Defense in recent years has shifted from threat-based planning to structuring its forces to provide a range of capabilities. As such, the need has arisen for new methods to assess the Air Force’s manpower and materiel deployment capabilities. The authors outline a method for assessing Air and Space Expeditionary Force capabilities given certain policies and resource levels, and they illustrate how this method can…
REPORT
While the major combat operations of Operation Iraqi Freedom were successful, logistical problems still hampered materiel sustainment. Supply chain improvements could help better prepare the U.S. Army for future operations.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This article argues that the standard measure of military efforts-defense spending-inadequately captures the social and political impact of military preparedness. It instead suggests that military personnel policies impact social welfare efforts to the degree that they alter citizens' relationships to labor markets, directly provide social welfare benefits to military personnel, or create discursive obstacles to other groups seeking…
REPORT
“Sustainment surge” describes the increase in weapon systems repair activity brought on by the operational demands of wartime or contingency operations. In light of the U.S. military’s transformations in force planning over the past 25 years, the authors of this report look at how the nature of surge has changed, whether legislation has hindered management in developing effective and efficient ways to manage surge, and…
REPORT
This monograph examines how the skills needed to perform future military missions might affect the capabilities required of new pilot training systems. In the next few years, the Air Force must decide to replace or extend the lives of two of its trainer aircraft. This monograph addresses which skills should be taught in undergraduate flying training, which are so different that they cannot be taught in current training aircraft, and what…
REPORT
This report shows how planners can create courses of action and assess the risks associated with them to improve how the Army uses contractors on the battlefield. It shows how to assess risks relevant to mission success, contractor safety, cost, and such other factors as administrative law and force management. It addresses risk assessment relevant to decisions that affect Army use of contractors, whether they are made inside or outside…
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