Evaluation of the United States Air Force Vehicle Burden-Sharing Programs

摘要

The purpose of this research was to examine the issues surrounding the U.S. AirForce vehicle burden-sharing initiative with South Korea. In doing this, the study examined additional vehicle programs with the South Korean government as well as with NATO alliances to provide an historical background and insight into the concerns that faced vehicle managers with those programs. In addition, several transportation experts throughout the Department of Defense were interviewed for their perspective of the vehicle management issues which relate to these programs. This research revealed several issues that continue to concern transportation expert. These areas include the accurate and comprehensive specification of the vehicle requirements, the reduced degree of U.S. control over shared vehicles, vehicle supportability and maintainability, and the curtailment of U.S. organic line haul capabilities within South Korea. The researcher's recommendations included the establishment of detailed procedures for both U.S. forces as well as the South Korean forces. Furthermore, the researcher proposed vehicle functional area experts be involved in the initial and subsequent vehicle requirements negotiations with the host nation; often transportation managers' ideas for a suitable substitute are not compatible with the users'.