Air Mobility Plan, 2008 - The Black Vault

Guidance Summary
Speed, agility, and tailored forces characterize the Joint Force capabilities required to achieve the
goals outlined in the NSS, NDS, QDR, NMS, USTRANSCOM Strategic Plan, Air Force Strategic
Plan, the Air Force CONOPS, and AFSO 21. Building upon the goals and objectives set by our
strategic-level guidance, the following section describes the impact of political, economic, and social
trends—as they shape the international security environment of tomorrow—and what effects they
will have on MAF operations.
The Challenges
Operations Increase in Variety and Scale
The MAF will continue to support US forces, called
upon to employ weapons against adversary forces,
while simultaneously providing humanitarian
assistance to the civilian population at home and
abroad. The struggle against global terrorism is
different from any other war in our history. The
war on terrorism is being fought on many fronts
against a particularly elusive enemy and will last
for an extended period of time. Trained terrorists
remain at large with cells in North America, South
America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and
across Asia. It is imperative that the US military
“…we must maintain and expand our
national strength so we can deal with
threats and challenges before they can
damage our people or our interests. We
must maintain a military without peer—
yet our strength is not founded on force
of arms alone. It also rests on economic
prosperity and a vibrant democracy.”
President Bush, NSS, March 2006
be able to deploy a greater percentage of our forces where and when needed, anywhere in the world.
The DOD is transitioning to a global force management process, which provides the ability to source
force needs from a global, rather than a regional, perspective and to surge capabilities when needed
into crisis theaters from disparate locations worldwide. [NDS]
Sourcing, from a global perspective, and operating from global commons (space, international waters
and airspace, and cyberspace), enable us to project power from secure bases of operation. Speed is
just as critical as reach, and the need for rapid global mobility continues to be a high priority. Agility
is the key to achieving rapid global mobility. Being agile allows the ability to rapidly configure and
deploy capabilities in geographically separated and environmentally diverse regions. [NMS]
The MAF, along with the rest of the Air Force, will be called upon to support major force operations
across the globe with speed and agility, plus accomplish the air mobility mission in permissive and
nonpermissive environments. As in the past, the MAF
may act alone in supporting humanitarian efforts following
natural disasters at home and abroad or following strife that
displaces large numbers of people in the most remote regions
of the world. The latter operations will be accomplished
with the same velocity and precision required for combat
operations and, as witnessed in Somalia, the most benign
humanitarian operation overseas can rapidly deteriorate
into armed conflict.
Whether the MAF is supporting a small contingency or a large-scale humanitarian mission, it will
be faced with the challenges of having access to the area and in operating from austere locations,
undeveloped infrastructure, and hostile territories. Because of the threat of internal unrest, some
allies may grant US forces permission to operate from their territory only if those operations have the
lowest possible profile. This means US forces, including mobility forces, may have to operate without
extensive support infrastructure and little or no host-nation support. Such operations will require the
use of new innovative support concepts that could result in the merging of air mobility and agile
Air Mobility Operating Environment
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