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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

Military Power Is All About People: A Return to Personnel Policy

Ensuring the strength of U.S. armed forces is critical to U.S. national security and the key source of strength is its people. True investment in personnel is a long-term legacy and an investment worthy of attention and policy debate to ensure the United States continues to recruit and retain the most effective fighting force in the world.

Jul 27, 2017
Commentary

Giving Japan a Military

After 70 years, Japan may finally be on the cusp of acquiring its own military. Legally, that is. Prime Minister Abe has proposed a change to Japan's constitution to give legal standing to the Self-Defense Forces, and it's long overdue.

Jun 20, 2017
Report

Report

Sustaining the Army's Reserve Components as an Operational Force

This report identifies emerging policy lessons regarding the use of, and reforms to, the U.S. Army's Reserve Components (RCs) as an operational reserve derived from analyses of their contributions to recent contingency operations.

Jun 12, 2017
Commentary

Japan's Mistaken South Sudan Withdrawal

Being a proactive contributor to peace involves risk if a country is serious about gaining real-world experience. Pulling out of South Sudan deprives Japan's Self-Defense Force of crucial operational experience and sends a confusing message to the United States and the international community.

Jun 8, 2017
Report

Report

Fit for Duty? Evaluating the Physical Fitness Requirements of Battlefield Airmen

Describes a methodology for establishing physical fitness standards for four Air Force occupational specialties, as part of a broader Air Force effort to measure the physical readiness of airmen to perform their jobs.

May 9, 2017
Report

Stress and Dissatisfaction in the Air Force's Remotely Piloted Aircraft Community

The demand for the Air Force's remotely piloted aircraft has spiked in the past few years. Crews feel stressed due to heavy workloads, understaffing, and other factors. What can the Air Force do to mitigate these stressors?

Apr 27, 2017
Testimony

Chinese Contingency Planning for Regional Hotspots

The Chinese People's Liberation Army has modernized significantly over the past two decades—bringing in world-class inventory and new technology. But the major issue facing the PLA remains its ability to adequately train and prepare staffs for a range of scenarios.

Apr 13, 2017
Report

Report

Needs, Effectiveness, and Gap Assessment for Key A-10C Missions: An Overview of Findings

This report analyzes several missions assigned to the A-10C aircraft and the needs this mission set could generate over the next five years. It also assesses existing and planned forces' effectiveness and capability gaps in performing those missions.

Mar 2, 2017
Report

Transforming Taiwan's Reserve Force

As the political-military challenge from China grows, Taiwan's reserve force may need to play a more prominent role in Taipei's approach to deterring Chinese aggression. Changing its reserve force size, structure, roles, missions, equipment, and training could help Taiwan offset PLA advantages.

Feb 22, 2017
Report

Report

Developing a Capacity Assessment Framework for Marine Logistics Groups

This report provides a capacity assessment framework to assist each of the Marine Logistics Groups, or any size unit, in determining the ability of logistics units to meet current and projected tasks.

Feb 20, 2017
Report

Assessing the Training and Operational Proficiency of China's Aerospace Forces: Selections from the Inaugural Conference of the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI)

This volume contains revised versions of three presentations on Chinese aerospace training and operational competence issues from a June 2015 China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) conference.

Oct 20, 2016
Essay

Transgender Troops: Fit to Serve

The Pentagon's decision to open the ranks to transgender service members was informed by months of RAND research into the costs and numbers involved.

Aug 18, 2016
Commentary

How Defense Choices Affect Military Readiness

Because the United States cannot afford to prioritize and defend against every possible threat or contingency, it must accept risk with each decision it makes. And the more adaptive the adversary, the more likely it will confound readiness investments made previously to confront it.

Aug 10, 2016
Commentary

It's Getting Harder to Define Military Readiness. Here's What to Do About It.

Focusing on one type of threat or the other — whether state or non-state in its general nature — is becoming a less tenable option as the United States considers how to assess and improve its military readiness.

Jul 12, 2016
Report

Improving Decision Support for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control: Aligning Models and Other Tools with Policymakers' Needs

This report provides an overview of decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, for policymakers and modelers and provides recommendations for using the tools to inform real-world infectious disease-related policy questions.

Jul 12, 2016
Brochure

Brochure

Fostering Innovation in the Defense Department: Examples from RAND's Federally Funded Research and Development Centers

Describes examples of how the Department of Defense (DoD) has used RAND analysis across the spectrum of DoD activities to innovate and otherwise solve problems in meeting its mission objectives.

Jul 8, 2016
Report

Report

The Foundations of Operational Resilience — Assessing the Ability to Operate in an Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) Environment: The Analytical Framework, Lexicon, and Characteristics of the Operational Resilience Analysis Model (ORAM)

Describes a modeling framework and lexicon for conducting a detailed analysis of future Air Force operational resilience in an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) environment.

Jul 7, 2016
News Release

News Release

Impact of Transgender Personnel on Readiness and Health Care Costs in the U.S. Military Likely to Be Small

The U.S. Department of Defense has been reviewing its policy that bans transgender personnel from serving openly. If transgender people were allowed to serve openly, the number would likely be a small fraction of the total force and have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs.

Jun 30, 2016
Research Brief

The Implications of Allowing Transgender Personnel to Serve Openly

As the U.S. Department of Defense reviews potential changes to its policy on transgender service members, it will need to consider this population's unique health care needs, the potential costs associated with extending coverage for these needs, and the readiness implications of allowing transgender service members to serve openly.

Jun 30, 2016
Report

How Might Allowing Transgender Personnel to Serve Openly Affect the U.S. Military?

The Department of Defense recently announced that it will allow transgender personnel to serve openly. The number of transgender members will likely be a small fraction of the total force and have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs.

Jun 30, 2016

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RAND Topic:
Operational Readiness

Topic Synonyms:
Combat Readiness

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