Assessing Unit Readiness

Case Study of an Air Force Fighter Wing

Carl J. Dahlman, David E. Thaler

ResearchPublished 2000

Ongoing allegations of problems with readiness in the current environment of constrained resources and demanding contingency requirements have driven efforts to characterize the effect of this environment on a representative operational unit and to capture the features in a readiness management system. A broad recipe for assessing readiness involves defining what is “healthy,” evaluating the current and future status, and identifying where that status deviates from a healthy state. Results indicate that the fighter wing faces a mismatch between the tasks it must accomplish and the resources at its disposal. Without the proper standards and the right metrics for tracking how units can meet those standards, senior management will be unable to identify and assess shortfalls in readiness throughout the force.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 2000
  • Pages: 52
  • Document Number: DB-296-AF

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Chicago Manual of Style

Dahlman, Carl J. and David E. Thaler, Assessing Unit Readiness: Case Study of an Air Force Fighter Wing. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2000. https://www.rand.org/pubs/documented_briefings/DB296.html.
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This project was conducted in RAND's Project AIR FORCE division.

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