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Military Logistics

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

Report

Prolonged Cycle Times and Schedule Growth in Defense Acquisition: A Literature Review

This report summarizes a selection of the defense acquisition literature from the 1960s to the present on potential sources of prolonged acquisition cycle times and schedule growth, as well as potential opportunities for improvement.

Apr 30, 2014
Brochure

Brochure

RAND Arroyo Center Annual Report 2013

Describes RAND Arroyo Center's research activities in FY13 and summarizes noteworthy studies performed throughout the year.

Apr 23, 2014
Commentary

The U.S. Army Must Remain Prepared for Battle

Converting the Army into a force suited only for homeland defense or humanitarian missions abroad, without the ability to fight sophisticated foes as part of a joint force, would result in an unprepared Army.

Apr 18, 2014
Report

Report

Methods for Identifying Part Quality Issues and Estimating Their Cost with an Application Using the UH-60

This research report demonstrates how the Army can use readily available demand and end item maintenance history to identify potential issues with repair part or process quality and estimate their associated incremental costs.

Apr 14, 2014
Multimedia

Do Joint Fighter Programs Save Money?

In this March 28th Congressional Briefing, Mark Lorell discusses how the need to accommodate different service requirements into a single jet fighter design or common design family leads to increased program complexity and cost growth.

Mar 28, 2014
Commentary

Should the U.S. Move the Marines to Guam?

The option to permanently base Marines on Guam should hinge on the benefits of the location and the costs. Guam scores poorly on both counts and better options exist. However, previous guidance provided to the Marine Corps constrains consideration of such options.

Feb 28, 2014
Report

Authority to Issue Interoperability Policy

Achieving interoperability among systems is instrumental to enabling critical functions, so it is important to understand what parties have authority to issue policy that governs the facets of interoperability.

Jan 29, 2014
Report

Developing Navy Capability to Recover Forces in Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Hazard Environments

How do you recover and decontaminate amphibious forces if they are attacked with chemical, biological, or radiological weapons while ashore?

Jan 28, 2014
Report

Sourcing and Global Distribution of Medical Supplies

Opportunities exist to gain efficiencies in the global military medical logistics enterprise without sacrificing capability, notably through minimizing intermediate materiel handling, seeking the greatest value from commercial freight, and streamlining warehouse operations.

Jan 28, 2014
Report

Enabling Early Sustainment Decisions: Application to F-35 Depot-Level Maintenance

The U.S. Air Force has long struggled to incorporate new weapon system logistics requirements and support system design considerations into its broader sustainment enterprise early in the acquisition process. RAND developed a framework that helps planners visualize sustainment data and compare new programs with legacy Air Force systems.

Dec 20, 2013
News Release

News Release

The End of the Iraq War Offers Lessons for Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Policymakers and military commanders should use the lessons derived from the final years of U.S. involvement in Iraq to inform critical decisions and timelines required to successfully end large-scale military operations, including the one in Afghanistan. However, there is no “one-size-fits-all” template to follow.

Nov 5, 2013
Research Brief

Smooth Transitions? Lessons Learned from Transferring U.S. Military Responsibilities to Civilian Authorities in Iraq

An examination of the transition of authority from military hands to civilians in the U.S. and Iraqi governments found lessons that could smooth the departure of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2014 and guide similar transitions in the future.

Nov 5, 2013
Report

The End of the Iraq War Offers Lessons for Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Policymakers and military commanders should use the lessons derived from the final years of U.S. involvement in Iraq to inform critical decisions and timelines required to successfully end large-scale military operations, including the one in Afghanistan. However, there is no “one-size-fits-all” template to follow.

Nov 5, 2013
Solution

Dispersing War Reserve Materiel

Prepositioning of war reserve materiel is essential to rapid deployment of U.S. forces, but the existing centralized storage posture is not well suited to unpredictable deployments. Would dispersed storage be a better option?

Nov 3, 2013
Report

Improving Readiness Reporting for an Adaptive Army

The Army has developed an impressive capacity to adapt to emerging requirements by providing units with new capabilities rapidly and flexibly. While the readiness reporting system still works as originally intended, however, the current readiness reporting system captures only a portion of the adaptations readily seen in recent years.

Oct 10, 2013
Report

New Approaches to Defense Inflation and Discounting

An examination of how well current inflation indices and discount rates serve Department of Defense weapon-system program management.

Aug 23, 2013
Report

Report

Improving Inventory Management of Organizational Clothing and Individual Equipment at Central Issue Facilities

Army Central Issue Facilities (CIFs) do not have a formal mechanism signaling when to review inventory levels and when and whether to requisition items. RAND developed an algorithm that can be used to determine when and what quantity to replenish.

Aug 5, 2013
Solution

Measuring Troop Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan

How "big" were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? To prepare for future conflicts, the U.S. Army needed to know exactly how far it extended itself in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

Jul 10, 2013
Brochure

Brochure

RAND NSRD Annual Report 2012-2013

Surveys the work of the RAND National Security Research Division from spring of 2012 through winter of 2013.

Jun 25, 2013
Report

Measuring the Value of Renewal: Age, Operational Tempo, Deployment, and Reset Effects on the Readiness and Maintenance Costs of Army Vehicles

Age and heavy usage makes equipment renewal an Army imperative. Recent expenditures have been on the order of $10 billion per year. Quantitative analyses are needed to determine how often a vehicle should be renewed. This study assesses the effects of vehicle age, operational tempo, Southwest Asia deployment, and reset on mission-critical failures and maintenance costs.

Jun 3, 2013

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RAND Topic:
Military Logistics

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