Air Mobility Plan, 2008 - The Black Vault

demands on the active duty for contingency operations have been considerable and have begun to affect
personnel retention and aircraft mission capable (MC) rates. ARC forces are also strained during long
periods of activation or extended deployments. The MAF has led the Air Force in the employment
of the Total Force; aircrews are standardized, and Associate units have been used for decades. More
work is needed; however, to develop alternative solutions to the OPTEMPO challenges that the MAF
will face. The stress on our people and equipment must be balanced with maintaining a high degree
of combat readiness and improved mission capabilities.
Enhanced Force Protection and Defensive Systems
It is not possible to predict every facet of the future operating environment for the MAF; however, one
thing is certain: the importance of force protection for our aircrews, aircraft, support personnel, and
installations. The MAF will face a wide range of dangers, including conventional, unconventional,
terrorist, criminal, insider, environmental, WMD, civil unrest, and informational data threats. More
advanced weapons, such as lasers, high-powered microwaves, acoustic weapons, or other hightechnology
weapons in various stages of development, will have an impact on future MAF operations.
“The entire range of strategic threats can put at risk our bases of operation at home and abroad. While
we can identify some threats—e.g., missiles and WMD—others, like those employed against the US
and its partners since September 11, 2001, may be harder to identify. We need to improve defenses
against such challenges and increase our capacity to defeat them at a distance.” [NDS]
The MAF must be able to adapt to changing peacetime and wartime environments and shape them to
our operational advantage. To ensure mobility dominance in this rapid and forever-changing world,
the MAF must invest in advanced technologies and innovative mobility concepts that provide the
capabilities required to support our national security strategy and military objectives.
Support Operations Require Quick Responses
It has been long recognized in the air mobility community that a major limiting factor on deployment
operations is not the number of available aircraft or crews, but rather the capability of the en route or
destination infrastructure to accommodate the ground operations of mobility aircraft. To overcome
these limitations, future air mobility forces will
emphasize using aircraft with greater unrefueled
range, decreased reliance on en route infrastructure
support, decreased mobility footprint at forward
locations, and standardized intermodal containers
and mission equipment across the range of
strategic, theater, and tactical air mobility assets.
These improved capabilities will increase the
velocity of air mobility operations; plus, they will
help overcome anti-access strategies often used as
defensive measures by the enemy. Recognizing
the dynamics of the global threat and the evolving
challenges for the warfighter, we will continue our CBP efforts to analyze existing aircraft availability
and supporting programs to ensure that the command has the right assets and capabilities to support
the warfighters’ ability to plan and execute at an acceptable level of operational risk. The NDS
called the capability to rapidly surge military forces from strategic distances to deny adversaries
sanctuary a key goal. In some cases, this may involve discrete SOF precision attacks on targets deep
inside enemy territory. In others, sustained Joint or combined combat operations may be necessary,
requiring the comprehensive defeat of significant state and nonstate opponents operating in and from
enemy territory or an ungoverned area.
Regardless, whether hunting down terrorists overseas or defending US interests at home and abroad,
mobility responsiveness will be required in order to meet the challenges of the future environment.
SOF and strike aircraft must arrive quickly to be effective against elusive, fleeting targets. Similarly,
Air Mobility Operating Environment
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