Civil Reserve Air Fleet: A Rough Road Ahead

摘要

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) was created in 1951 to provide supplemental airlift capability to the U.S military for worldwide operations. The program has been mutually beneficial, providing peacetime government cargo and passenger business for CRAF participants while allowing the military to man and maintain a smaller, less expensive organic airlift capability. Indeed, Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom recently illustrated the undeniable requirement for the CRAF to continue supplementing organic lift. However, air carrier industry trends and a perceived erosion of the incentive program have put future air carrier participation at risk. If CRAF is to survive, USTRANSCOM and the Air Force's Air Mobility Command must make some tough decisions and implement sweeping changes in the way it manages the program. This paper illustrates concerns with the CRAF program, its outdated activation system, and deteriorating incentives and recommend changes that will ensure the CRAF exists to support the Global War on Terror and other operations well into the future.