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Capabilities Based Planning

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Capabilities-based planning enables military agencies to identify program needs, allocate resources, and track activities and outcomes. RAND develops methodologies and tools such as this to assist the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and other defense agencies in evaluating their manpower, equipment, cooperative relationships with military partners, and other capabilities.

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Capabilities-Based Planning Can Enhance Energy Security at DoD Installations

Feb 20, 2013

Energy security strategies are needed because DoD installations rely on the U.S. commercial electricity grid which is vulnerable to disruption from natural hazards and actor-induced outages, such as physical or cyber attacks.

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Estimating Air Force Deployment Requirements for Lean Force Packages: A Methodology and Decision Support Tool Prototype

This report describes a methodology and prototype tool -- the Lean Strategic Tool for the Analysis of Required Transportation (Lean-START) -- that can explore trade-offs among capability (or risk), speed, and cost to create force packages for deployment.

Nov 15, 2017
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Capabilities for Joint Analysis in the Department of Defense: Rethinking Support for Strategic Analysis

This report stems from a congressional request for an independent report about the U.S. Department of Defense's capabilities for joint analysis and ways to improve them.

Sep 12, 2016
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Venture Capital and Strategic Investment for Developing Government Mission Capabilities

Through case studies and economic modeling, this research on government strategic investment will help acquisition managers evaluate strategic investment methods to motivate mission-oriented innovation by private firms.

Mar 24, 2014
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Analysis to Inform Defense Planning Despite Austerity

Defense analysis can better serve policymakers by exploiting improvements in the state of the art and by rediscovering and supplementing classic principles. These relate to multiple objectives and hedging against uncertainty.

Mar 20, 2014
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Improving Air Force Depot Programming by Linking Resources to Capabilities

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.

Nov 21, 2012
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Bridging the Gap: Prototype Tools to Support Local Disaster Preparedness Planning and Collaboration

RAND researchers developed an initial prototype tool to help determine capabilities and resources a locality will likely require during a disaster. The report also describes two social networking tools for local coordination of disaster preparedness.

Oct 12, 2012
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Integrating the Full Range of Security Cooperation Programs into Air Force Planning: An Analytic Primer

Supplies Air Force planners with information about resources for security cooperation, the rules that govern their use, and their application methods.

Sep 29, 2011
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Assessing the Effectiveness of the International Counterproliferation Program

Addressing the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction requires interagency and international cooperation. This report demonstrates how one assessment framework can be applied to security cooperation programs.

Sep 12, 2011
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Bridging the Gap: Developing a Tool to Support Local Civilian and Military Disaster Preparedness

This report describes the current policy context for domestic all-hazards risk-informed capabilities-based planning by local military and civilian authorities and provides a framework for a local planning support tool for their use.

Apr 12, 2010
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Assessing Capabilities and Risks in Air Force Programming: Framework, Metrics, and Methods

A method for capabilities-based programming is developed to assist the programming of a wide range of resources in light of an uncertain future, expressing capabilities and risks of resource allocations in terms of national planning objectives.

Apr 1, 2009
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A Capabilities-Based Strategy for Army Security Cooperation

In the context of multinational force compatibility, this report defines the Niche Capability Planning Framework, which is intended to guide and focus the U.S. Army's long-term compatibility investments with partner armies of varying capabilities.

Jul 31, 2007
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Supporting Air and Space Expeditionary Forces: Capabilities and Sustainability of Air and Space Expeditionary Forces

Presents a method for assessing Air and Space Expeditionary Force manpower and materiel deployment capabilities and a detailed description of software tools developed by RAND for quantifying deployment capabilities.

Feb 17, 2006
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Supporting Air and Space Expeditionary Forces: A Methodology for Determining Air Force Deployment Requirements

Describes a prototype research tool for determining manpower and equipment deployment requirements.

Aug 13, 2004
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New Challenges, New Tools for Defense Decisionmaking

Addresses the new challenges for defense policy in a world transformed by the end of the Cold War and then the war on terrorism, and sketches new analytic techniques for framing particular defense issues.

Jan 1, 2003
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Analytic Architecture for Capabilities-Based Planning, Mission-System Analysis, and Transformation

Analytic Architecture for Capabilities-Based Planning, Mission-System Analysis, and Transformation

Apr 29, 2002
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Paul K. Davis

Adjunct Physical Scientist; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Education Ph.D. in chemical physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; B.S. in chemisty, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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Debra Knopman

Principal Researcher; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Education Ph.D. in geography and environmental engineering, Johns Hopkins University; M.S. in civil engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; B.A. in chemistry, Wellesley College
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Don Snyder

Senior Physical Scientist
Education Ph.D. in geology, University of California, Berkeley; B.A. in geology, Franklin and Marshall College; B.A. in mathematics, Franklin and Marshall College

RAND Topic:
Capabilities Based Planning

Topic Synonyms:
CBP

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