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Operational Readiness

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.

Commentary

Pandemics and the U.S. Military: Lessons from 1918

Military leaders today face a more benign security environment than their predecessors did during the 1918 Spanish flu. The U.S. military is engaged in operations abroad, but it's not fighting a great-power war. The Pentagon has every reason to focus on stemming the COVID-19 pandemic even if it has to absorb some downgrade in readiness.

Apr 1, 2020
Report

Report

Physical Task Simulations: Performance Measures for the Validation of Physical Tests and Standards for Battlefield Airmen

This report describes RAND's assistance to the Air Force in designing physical task simulations to evaluate the physical capabilities required to perform critical physical tasks in six battlefield airmen occupational specialties.

Feb 20, 2020
Report

How Capable Are Russia's Armed Forces?

Since 2008, the Russian military has become more capable, not only of defending its territory but also of launching invasions against its neighbors. Russia's defense spending is now in decline, but NATO policymakers and defense planners should continue to monitor its military improvements.

Oct 29, 2019
Report

Assessing Force Sufficiency and Risk Using RAND's Multi-Period Assessment of Force Flow (MPAFF) Tool

This report describes RAND's Multi-Purpose Assessment of Force Flow tool for conducting time-phased analysis of Army force sufficiency under a variety of assumptions on force generation policies, readiness policies, and force employment policies.

Oct 28, 2019
Report

Report

Army Expeditionary Civilian Demand: Forecasting Future Requirements for Civilian Deployments

As the largest provider of government civilians to support U.S. military operations, the Army stands to benefit to a great extent from a more robust process for forecasting future demand for its civilian workforce.

Oct 24, 2019
Report

Report

Improving DoD's Weapon System Support Program: A Critical Readiness Driver Approach

The readiness and sustainability of weapon systems is a key factor in defense. The Weapon System Support Program prioritizes system parts, but performance is lacking. RAND examines program effectiveness and gives recommendations for the future.

Aug 29, 2019
Report

Approaches to Strategic Sealift Readiness

The authors examine the readiness of the strategic sealift fleet and its management. They determine that many factors can be improved to increase readiness and make recommendations toward that end.

Aug 8, 2019
Report

Report

Air Force Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Programs and Services: Contribution to Airman and Family Resilience and Readiness

Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) programs are key to resilient and ready Airmen and families. The authors developed a resilience and readiness model and compared it with target outcomes of MWR services. Next steps are also provided.

Jul 31, 2019
Report

Report

Independent Review and Assessment of the Air Force Ready Aircrew Program: A Description of the Model Used for Sensitivity Analysis

This report outlines a computational model to measure whether flying units can feasibly meet U.S. Air Force continuation training requirements, presents the model's specifications, and describes how it was used to assess the Ready Aircrew Program.

Jul 15, 2019
Report

Main Command Post-Operational Detachments (MCP-ODs) and Division Headquarters Readiness

Researchers identify the effects of Focus Area Review Group II headquarters design and its new unit type -- the Main Command Post--Operational Detachment -- on division headquarters readiness.

Jun 3, 2019
Report

Valuing Air Force Electric Power Resilience

How well do current Air Force processes evaluate power resilience investments? A proposed framework identifies cost- and performance-related information in a clear manner that facilitates decisionmaking.

Jun 3, 2019
Commentary

Vietnam Is the Chinese Military's Preferred Warm-Up Fight

China's last major war experience gave it virtually zero lessons to apply to future armed conflict. At some point the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will need to test its new capabilities and the training it has honed over time. There are at least three reasons why Vietnam is likely in the PLA's crosshairs.

May 15, 2019
Report

Report

A Stated Preference Analysis of the Determinants of Unit and Soldier Operational Effectiveness

The authors assess the relative importance of component status relative to a number of potential determinants of operational effectiveness, including but not limited to unit type, training level, experience in country, and associated costs and risk.

May 13, 2019
Report

Report

OCEANS 17 Tabletop Exercise: Findings and Recommendations

In December 2017, the RAND Corporation conducted a tabletop exercise on air operations across the boundaries between geographic combatant commands. This report describes the exercise's design, key insights from our analysis, and recommendations.

May 9, 2019
Report

Report

A Throughput-Based Analysis of Army Active Component/Reserve Component Mix for Major Contingency Surge Operations

This report examines how changing the way in which the Army executes mobilization and contingency planning can affect the ratio of reserve component to active component units deploying in the early weeks of a major crisis.

May 8, 2019
Report

Report

Aligning Incentives in the Transportation Working Capital Fund: Cost Recovery While Retaining Readiness in Military Transportation

Many of U.S. Transportation Command's peacetime movements are crucial preparation for wartime. But some customers think that costs are too high. This report analyzes cost recovery to better align customer peacetime decisions with the wartime mission.

May 2, 2019
Commentary

An Army Caught in the Middle Between Luddites, Luminaries, and the Occasional Looney

The Futures Command is the U.S. Army's newly established major command focused on preparing for future war with a peer competitor. Why was this such an important move for the Army?

Dec 20, 2018
Commentary

NATO Needs a European Level of Ambition

As NATO finalizes its new political guidance designed to shape future military forces, it has the chance to both strengthen Europe’s commitment to burden-sharing and relieve American concern about the creation of a new European Army. Building an enhanced European capacity within NATO entails some risk, but the benefits may outweigh concerns.

Dec 10, 2018
Commentary

Is Japan's New Defense Plan Ambitious Enough?

Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan has significantly increased capabilities to meet increasing regional security challenges. But Tokyo may need to do more to manage the complex security environment surrounding Japan.

Dec 6, 2018
Report

Comprehensive Analysis of Strategic Force Generation Challenges in the Australian Army

This report reviews the modernisation efforts and force generation practices of four armed forces with global presence to derive lessons and practices to inform the Australian Army's own reorganisation policy.

Dec 3, 2018

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RAND Topic:
Operational Readiness

Topic Synonyms:
Combat Readiness

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