RAND Arroyo Center Publications - Research Briefs
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RESEARCH BRIEFS
RAND research briefs summarize research that has been more fully documented in other RAND reports. The research briefs below are sorted by year and title.
2007
Learning the Lessons of Hurricane Katrina for the U.S. Army - 2007
The efforts undertaken by civilian and military organizations in response to Hurricane Katrina were historically unprecedented, but problems did arise in the military response that contributed to delays in accomplishing evacuations and relief operations across the storm-ravaged areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, particularly New Orleans.
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2005
Army Forces for Sustained Operations - 2005
The nation has difficult trade-offs in facing calls on Army forces for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This report describes the effects of large deployments on the Army’s ability to sustain overseas operations, to provide forces for other contingencies, to ensure that soldiers are trained, and to continue to recruit and retain soldiers.
Civilian or Military? Assessing the Risk of Using Contractors on the Battlefield - 2005
Contractors continue to play an important role in military operations. Any decision about using or not using contractors carries risk. Decisions about using contractors on the battlefield tend to be complex. A disciplined approach in applying the Army's risk management procedures to decisions about contractor use can clarify key considerations and help reduce the complexity of the decision.
Getting Value from the Reverse Logistics Pipeline - 2005
Recovering value from unserviceable parts is a key component of the reverse logistics process and a valuable link in the Army's Supply chain. The Army's reverse logistics pipeline processes are relatively slow and streamlining them could improve readiness, save money, and enhance the Army's ability to manage its spare parts inventory.
How to Improve the Army's Management of Reparable Spare Parts - 2005
The Army's Management of parts that are cost effective to fix involves two major activities that are not well integrated: (1) long range planning and (2) execution which involves near term planning and repair. RAND Arroyo Center researchers identified problems in how the planning and execution processes are managed and recommends ways in which the Army could improve them.
Transferring Army Land Containing UXO - 2005
The Army has had difficulty transferring land that contains unexploded ordnance (UXO). The Army would like to transfer land more rapidly, and it asked RAND Arroyo Center first to identify and assess obstacles to the transfer of land containing UXO and then to identify innovative ways to accomplish such transfer.
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2004
An Army Strategy for Homeland Security - 2004
Given the potential but undefined threat posed to the U.S. homeland by terrorists, the Army needs to decide whether it should hedge against the risk of not being adequately prepared. RAND researchers recommend four actions the Army could take now to enhance its ability to respond to an attack on the United States.
Research Brief
Broadening the Army’s Bandwidth - 2004
The Army is concerned about whether it has enough bandwidth available--whether enough capacity exists to meet the operational requirements spelled out for the Army future force. Demand for bandwidth will continue to grow and will exceed supply. No single approach will solve the Army's bandwidth problem so it must pursue several approaches.
The Effect of Age on the M1 Tank: Implications for Readiness, Workload, and Recapitalization - 2004
The Army has grown increasingly concerned about sustaining an acceptable level of operational readiness in its aging fleets. In response, it has started programs to rebuild and upgrade equipment. RAND Arroyo Center conducted a statistical analysis of the relationship between age and equipment readiness on the M1 Abrams tank. Among their findings is a 14-year old tank has twice as many critical failures as a new one.
Microworld Simulations: A New Dimension in Training Army Logistics Management Skills - 2004
RAND Arroyo Center has been exploring ways to improve the training of Army Combat Service Support logistics personnel, focusing on a new strategy that emphasizes the processes at the core of CSS operations. The research has examined the use of micro-world models to teach complex management skills and to highlight that teaching with dynamic simulations of specific processes.
Privatizing Military Production - 2004
The Army's substantial industrial base is large compared with current or anticipated needs and thus underused. Privatizing Army ammunition plants, perhaps by turning the arsenals into a federal government corporation, could save the Army money, foster innovation and efficiency, and enable senior leaders to focus on their priority functions.
Transferring Army Land Containing UXO: Problems and Solutions - 2004
The Army is already taking steps to address some of the problems that hamper the transfer of land with Unexploded Ordnance (UXO), but because conventional procedures have not worked well, it wishes to use other ways to transfer land with UXO. The Army asked RAND Arroyo Center to identify and assess obstacles to the transfer of land containing UXO and identify innovative ways to accomplish the transfer.
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2003
The Army and the New National Security Strategy - 2003
The Army is transforming itself into what it calls the Objective Force. While many aspects of that transformation provide what the new national security requires, the basic concepts need significant refinement, and this collection of essays address some of the most difficult challenges.
CWT and RWT Metrics Measure the Performance of the Army's Logistics Chain for Spare Parts - 2003
As part of its efforts to improve the logistics chain for spare parts, the Army must measure the performance of its supply system in filling orders for materiel. Velocity Management (VM) is a RAND-developed, Army-implemented system that measures such performance and seeks ways to improve it through its Define-Measure-Improve methodology. The Army effectively used customer wait time and requisition wait time to identify processes that need improvement.
Improved Equipment Sustainment Is Critical to Army Transformation - 2003
The Army's Transformation and new operational concepts put a premium on "equipment sustainability," the ability to keep weapon systems available during operations. To get better sustainability in future systems, the Army needs both better equipment and improved logistics performance. Arroyo Center research recommends that the Army adopt a standard set of metrics for defining equipment sustainment requirements to drive the Army and its providers to comprehensive solutions for improved sustainability.
Managing the Army's Arsenals and Ammunition Plants - 2003
The Army has a large industrial base consisting of both contractor and government operated facilities. These facilities provide the Army with more capacity than it needs so a portion of this industrial base is underused or mothballed. The Army asked RAND Arroyo Center to assess options for managing these facilities. The researchers formulated a strategic vision for the Army's industrial base and considered options for the best way to realize that vision.
Research Brief NSRD Research Brief
Risky Business: Assessing the Potential Harm from Unexploded Ordnance - 2003
Since the end of the Cold War, the Army has closed about twenty percent of the major military bases in the United States along with many smaller ones. Most are slated for transfer to civilian ownership. One of the problems associated with converting former bases to civilian use is that many have firing ranges containing unexploded ordnance (UXO). One of the conclusions reached in this study is that the Army needs to employ multiple risk assessment methods that operate at different levels and employ different designs.
Strategies for an Expeditionary Army - 2003
The Army is transforming itself so that, among other things, it can be more deployable. Reviewing the doctrinal, force design policy, and technological concepts the Army has been pursuing to transform its CSS elements, Arroyo Center researchers have identified several strategies to improve CSS transformation.
Toward an Expeditionary Army - 2003
An ability to deploy capable combat forces quickly is increasingly seen as an important national capability. As a central part of its transformation efforts, the Army has been striving to develop forces that reduce the tradeoff between deployment speed and combat power that its forces have presented so that it can better meet the needs of regional combatant commanders and the national leadership.
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2002
Future Air and Missile Threats - 2002
In 2002, RAND Arroyo Center researchers analyzed six plausible future worlds to determine which type of air and missile threats might confront the Army in a range of geopolitical or strategic situations. Among the major conclusions are: the Army needs to invest more in cruise missile defense; and the Army should retain and improve its short range missile defense against aircraft.
Getting Down to Business: How Innovative Partnerships with Industry Can Benefit the Army - 2002
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) offer a means for the Army to leverage the value of its substantial non-monetary resources, including real property, to support its objectives in other areas. If used imaginatively and flexibly, these activities have the potential to improve the Army's readiness posture, help achieve its technology requirements, and support its core mission of preparing for, deterring, and fighting the nation's wars.
Keeping the Army's Equipment Ready to Fight: A New Tool for Understanding Equipment Readiness - 2002
At facilities and installations across the United States and abroad, a high-velocity, streamlined order and ship process delivers Army repair parts in well under half the time it took to deliver them just three years earlier. Velocity Management--a term coined by logistics analysts at RAND and adopted by the U.S. Army--brings a new way of doing business to U.S. Army logistics. By combining a renewed focus on the customers of the logistics system with a powerful improvement methodology, in just a few years Army logisticians have achieved dramatic and continuous performance gains in key logistics processes.
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