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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.

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

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

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

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

The Implications of Allowing Transgender Personnel to Serve Openly

If the U.S. military decides to let transgender people 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

Expeditionary Civilians: Informing Department of Defense Civilian Deployment Policy and Practice

RAND conducted an end-to-end review and analysis of Department of Defense civilian deployment to inform policy and practice for using deployable civilians to meet mission needs ten to 20 years into the future.

Jun 9, 2016
Report

Expeditionary Civilians: Creating a Viable Practice of Civilian Deployment Within the U.S. Interagency Community and Among Foreign Defense Organizations

This report describes the requirements that generate the need for deployable civilians, the types of missions civilians support, and the methods that U.S. and foreign government organizations use to identify, select, track and deploy civilians.

Jun 9, 2016
Report

Creating a Viable Practice of DoD Civilian Deployment

Expeditionary civilians have been used to reduced stress on the uniformed military, reduce the military's reliance on contractors, and circumvent limits on the deployment of additional military forces. An analysis of civilian deployment aims to inform DoD's policy and practice for using civilians to meet mission needs ten to 20 years into the future.

Jun 9, 2016
Report

Defense Institution Building: An Assessment

Presents an analysis of defense institution building (DIB), recommends goals and objectives, identifies partner nation and DIB activity selection criteria, develops a strategy for coordinating activities, and recommends accountability procedures.

Jun 7, 2016
Report

RAPAPORT (Resilience Assessment Process and Portfolio Option Reporting Tool): Background and Method

Describes industry methods for determining space resilience, the authors' method for the evaluating the non-materiel aspects of resilience, and the tool they developed for performing these resilience calculations and presenting the results.

Apr 28, 2016
Tool

RAPAPORT: Resilience Assessment Process and Portfolio Option Reporting Tool

The Resilience Assessment Process and Portfolio Option Reporting Tool (RAPAPORT) is a Microsoft Excel-based tool for assessing non-materiel aspects of resilience.

Apr 28, 2016
Commentary

Presence vs. Warfighting: A Looming Dilemma in Defense Planning

Presence involves global military deployments to counter potential aggressors, reassure allies, underwrite extended deterrence, build partner capacity, and more. It is now as important, in terms of its stabilizing and deterrent effect, as warfighting capabilities. Yet U.S. force posture falls short.

Apr 26, 2016
Commentary

Reimagining and Modernizing U.S. Airborne Forces for the 21st Century

Many of the challenges the U.S. will face in the coming years across the range of military operations could be deep inland and require rapid response. Airborne forcible entry — with reimagined and modernized airborne forces — would offer decisionmakers options in crises that they do not possess today.

Apr 20, 2016
Commentary

Will the PLA Reforms Succeed?

Reforms within the Chinese People's Liberation Army are in the process of delivering sweeping changes to its day-to-day operations, despite concerns held by some military members. Whether or not the overall implementation is successful as envisioned, assessing the operational implications of the reforms will require more time.

Apr 1, 2016
Commentary

The Tension Between What the Army Is and What It Does

Cooperation and integration of the Army's three components is important, but what's most important is effectiveness in war and the key to that is trained, properly organized, and ready forces.

Mar 3, 2016
Commentary

Planning for the 'Army of the Future'

What must the Army be ready to do as part of a joint force, now and in the future? What capacities and capabilities should the Army have in order to be ready? The NCFA comes up short in its answers to both of these questions.

Feb 17, 2016
Report

U.S. Army Must Prepare for Future Adversaries

More than a decade in Afghanistan and Iraq has honed the U.S. Army's ability to fight irregular adversaries, but these may not be the adversaries it will face in the future. The security landscape is changing in the face of a rising China, a resurgent Russia, and a Middle East in turmoil. How can the Army prepare?

Jan 20, 2016
Report

Defense Institution Building in Africa

Effective defense institution building (DIB) requires close coordination at every level. Improved coordination, planning, and implementation should enable DIB to advance U.S. defense objectives in Africa more effectively.

Jan 4, 2016
Commentary

Ground Combat

The U.S. Army needs to pay attention to state-sponsored irregular forces, whose numbers are growing. Such groups represent the type of adversary U.S. ground forces are likely to face.

Dec 23, 2015

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RAND Topic:
Operational Readiness

Topic Synonyms:
Combat Readiness

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