Project AIR FORCE News
Recent News Items from the Project AIR FORCE home page.
News items are listed in chronological order as they appeared on the home page.
2008
Real Roles, Missions Debate - Apr. 7, 2008
More than six years after Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration has yet to strike a durable balance in allocating resources among efforts to defeat terrorist groups and more familiar military missions against threats by state adversaries. This is the subject of a commentary by Andrew R. Hoehn and David Ochmanek for the Washington Times.
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Full Document
2007
Ungoverned Territories: A Unique Front in the War on Terror - August 24, 2007
9/11 demonstrated how terrorists can use remote territories to mount devastating attacks. Understanding ungoverned territories can help the United States and its friends and allies develop more effective strategies to mitigate these threats.
Research Brief
News Release
United States Should Reassess Priorities, Next Steps in Iraq- August 9, 2007
U.S. political persuasion, security policies, and economic assistance in Iraq should focus on reducing sectarian and other violence. The United States should also consider its next steps in the event that violence does or does not decline.
Research Brief
Counterinsurgency Ops May Require Modernized Airlift Fleet - August 1, 2007
The United States should rely largely on its general airlift forces to perform counterinsurgency missions. But the stress on aging fleets and the distinctive challenges of certain operations may require reinvestment and some realignment of airlift forces.
Research Brief
A Guide to Eliciting Expert Judgments for Cost Estimates - July 19, 2007
The cost of developing new aircraft or satellite systems is inherently uncertain. RAND Project AIR FORCE offers a procedure for eliciting expert judgments and expressing
uncertainty as a “probability distribution” over a range of possible costs.
Research Brief
U.S.-China Relations After Resolution of Taiwan’s Status - July 13, 2007
The most obvious and likeliest source of conflict between the United States and China is Taiwan. How Taiwan’s status is resolved will determine
whether U.S.-China relations are cooperative or hostile.
Research Brief
Air Force Needs Better Coordination to Manage Enlisted Force - July 12, 2007
The inventory of people has not been matched to manpower requirements for personnel in all grades and specialties. Upgraded modeling
capabilities, common metrics, and an overarching control structure can improve management of the enlisted force.
Research Brief
Why Was the Iraqi Resistance So Weak? - July 12, 2007
Coalition forces took down Saddam Hussein’s regime in less than three weeks, partly because of Saddam’s strategic miscalculations,
his preoccupation with internal threats, and his army’s low motivation in the face of a superior opponent.
Read Commentary
Forecasting Maintenance Requirements for Aging Aircraft - June 6, 2007
Analysts disagree about the maintenance requirements for aging Air Force fleets. A new tool helps forecast programmed depot maintenance (PDM) workloads and their affect on cost and aircraft availability.
Research Brief
A New Division of Labor Among U.S. Armed Forces - May 18, 2007
Effectively addressing emerging threats, including those that Islamic terrorist groups, nuclear–armed regional adversaries, and enemy forces equipped to conduct sophisticated “anti-access” operations pose, will require significant changes in the way major elements of America’s armed forces are equipped, trained, and deployed.
Research Brief
New Metrics Show How Investments Affect Space System Performance - May 7, 2007
As space systems age, the U.S. Air Force Space Command needs to understand how budgeting for the maintenance and sustainment of ground segments affects the performance of their associated space systems. New metrics and models can help this process.
Research Brief
Reducing the Cost of Producing New Airmen - May 2, 2007
A better mixture of on-the-job training and schoolhouse courses can reduce the cost of training 30,000 to 40,000 new enlisted airmen each year.
Research Brief
New Tools Can Make Intelligence Collection More Responsive - May 2, 2007
The Air Force must be able to respond to fleeting targets such as individual terrorists who expose themselves to detection and attack for as little as a few minutes. Better management of intelligence assets can help enable a rapid response.
Research Brief
How not to promote American missile defense in Europe - April 27, 2007
Missile defense has suddenly emerged as a divisive issue in Europe. Rather than enhancing European security, the Bush administration's plan to deploy elements of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic has meet with growing opposition as discussed in this commentary for Project Syndicate by F. Stephen Larrabee and Andrzej Karkoszka.
Read Commentary
Workforce Management Requires an Analysis-Based Approach
An analysis-based approach to workforce management can help ensure that the Air Force Materiel Command has the right number people with the right set of skills in the right job at the right time.
Research Brief
Press and Public Reactions to Civilian Deaths in Wartime
As enemies of the United States seek ways to place innocents at risk, the U.S. military must continue efforts to minimize civilian deaths and be positioned to better inform the public when casualties do occur.
Read Research Brief
Read News Release
America’s Long Wars
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ tenure will be judged not just by how the Defense Department’s leadership copes with radical Islam, but by its performance in five “long wars” that will dominate America’s future security landscape, as discussed in this commentary by Andrew R. Hoehn and David A. Shlapak that appeared in United Press International.
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Coordination Could Breed Control in Iraq
Teamwork and coordination are vital for success in all sorts of activities. Yet too often, the different branches of the U.S. military and the U.S. government in Iraq have failed to effectively coordinate their activities with each other and with their Iraqi counterparts.
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Central Asian Development Is a Long-Term Security Concern
To prevent deteriorating economic, political, and social conditions in Central Asia from fostering regional instability and conflict, the United States should encourage the nature and pace of political and economic reform.
Research Brief
Market Research Can Help the Air Force Maintain a High-Quality Supply Base
The Air Force is adopting commercial "best practices" to improve the purchase of goods and services. Market research can help commodity teams, which develop and implement strategies for purchasing commodities, identify and manage quality suppliers.
Research Brief
2006
Managing Cost and Capacity Data in the Air Force's Air Education and Training Command
In 2002, RAND Project AIR FORCE studied the data systems used by the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) to manage training costs and capacities. The schoolhouse model, developed to inform policy decisions regarding technical training pipeline issues, grew out of this study.
Research Brief
"Sense and Respond" Capabilities Can Make the Air Force Combat Support System More Agile
Combat support forces distribute transportation, maintenance, and other materials to support fighting forces. New technologies and systemic improvements (based on the "sense and respond" concept in commercial logistics) can improve this process.
Research Brief
Spend Analyses Conducted for Air Force F100 Engine Demo
The commercial sector uses "spend analyses" to identify areas to improve the purchase of goods and services. A spend analysis of the F100 engine demonstrates how innovative purchasing methods can achieve substantial cost savings for the Air Force.
Research Brief
Older Commercial Aircraft Have Stable Maintenance Costs
Total maintenance costs--including airframe and engine maintenance--are relatively stable for commercial aircraft between the ages of 12 and 25. This finding may help the Air Force estimate costs for its older aircraft fleets.
Research Brief
The U.S. Air Force Should Take Steps to Balance Manpower, Skill Levels, and Personnel Tempo
Many U.S. Air Force organizations have been unable to adequately adjust military manpower and personnel levels to meet changing mission requirements. An integrated manpower requirements architecture can help balance the human resource system.
Research Brief
The Cost of Expediting Aircraft Programmed Depot Maintenance
The Air Force can make more aircraft available to units by paying to expedite programmed depot maintenance. A new methodology calculates the monetary value of this practice and whether it is preferable to do it earlier or later in an aircraftís life.
Research Brief
RAND Study Assesses Role of U.S. Air Power in Afghanistan
The attacks of 9/11 thrust the United States into a no-notice war against al Qaeda and global terrorism. A RAND study sponsored by U.S. Central Command Air Forces assesses how air power performed in the first phase of this war in Afghanistan.
Research Brief
A New Planning System Can Help Balance Depot-Level Repair Budgets with Aircraft Readiness Goals
The U.S. Air Force does not have an effective way of allocating limited funding for depot-level repair across weapon systems and calculating the readiness implication of such allocations. A new "Closed-Loop Planning System" can help.
Research Brief
United States Should Fight Terrorist Ideology and Politics
Despite some success in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, al-Qaeda has metastasized into an even more formidable enemy. U.S. counterterrorism strategy must address the ideologial and political factors of terrorism at the global and local levels.
Research Brief
Evolutionary Acquisition Is Promising but Difficult to Implement
The Department of Defense hopes to reduce the time and cost of fielding operationally useful systems by developing new capabilities in multiple increments rather than all at once. However, the current acquisition environment has limited the strategy´s implementation.
Research Brief
What Is the Future of Striking First?
U.S. national security policy places new emphasis on striking enemies before they attack. However, large-scale first strikes are likely to remain infrequent, and the shift in policy does not require a major shift in U.S. defense planning.
Research Brief
Positioning War Reserve Materiel Requires Flexible, Global Approach
The U.S. Air Force positions war reserve materiel around the world so forces can rapidly deploy and begin operations. A global approach to resources involving air, land, and sealift can help minimize the cost and maximize the speed of combat support.
Research Brief
Building Partner Capacity Is the Key to Counterinsurgency Strategy
The Air Force can contribute greatly to fighting insurgents, especially in training, advising, and equipping partner countries. Counterinsurgency should be an institutional priority with appropriate organizations, expertise, and capability.
Research Brief
Joint Doctrine Should Be Revised to Reflect Changing Roles of Air and Ground Power
The Air Force and Army do not appear to be fully incorporating the lessons of post-Cold War operations. Air power should play a greater role in deep-strike operations. The joint force, particularly the Army, should focus more on meeting strategic objectives that go beyond warfighting.
Research Brief
Enhancing Airlift Planning and Execution Capabilities
Problems observed during Operation Iraqi Freedom suggest that the Air Force needs to improve its processes, organizations, doctrine, training, and communication and information systems to make the movement of personnel and equipment more effective and efficient.
Research Brief
Estimating Costs for Military Aircraft and Guided Weapons
The U.S. Air Force relies on sound cost estimates to make budgetary and policy decisions regarding the acquisition of aircraft and guided weapon systems. New techniques can help analysts make more accurate estimates of systems engineering and program management costs.
Research Brief
Better Methods of Analyzing Cost Uncertainty Can Improve Acquisition Decisionmaking
Estimating the cost of weapon systems is a critical part of military planning, but there are many sources of potential uncertainty. A combination of cost uncertainty assessment methodologies, uniform methods of communicating uncertainty, and the establishment of risk reserves in a program's budget can help decisionmakers understand potential risks and will aid the development of more realistic cost estimates.
Research Brief
Asian Countries Divided About U.S. Security Intentions in Central Asia
Several Asian states are key to Central Asia's security and economic environment, and their actions will also affect U.S. interests in the region. Although some of these states fear the U.S. military presence in the region, others appreciate its strong role in promoting stability.
Research Brief
Aging Fleets Require an Improved Structural Integrity Program
The U.S. Air Force has a structural integrity program to ensure that aircraft remain safe and in good working order. As older aircraft face increased structural problems such as cracking and even fractures, the Air Force will need to strengthen and improve the program.
Research Brief
New Methods Measure Capabilities of Air and Space Expeditionary Forces
Capabilities-based planning seeks to size and shape military forces to be responsive to many types of operations. New analytical methods make it possible for the Air Force to do capabilities-based planning for Air and Space Expeditionary Forces.
Research Brief
About PAF Publications
The results of RAND Project AIR FORCE research are communicated to the Air Force through informal discussions, briefings, publications, and the Internet. Our research findings are given the widest possible dissemination consistent with their security classification.
This policy, encouraged by the Air Force, releases the work to the outside professional community for validation of its accuracy and competence and to other individuals and groups, both inside and outside the government, that may benefit from it. Over the years, PAF has been the source of thousands of reports that have become part of the general scientific literature.
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