Time To Take Action: A Plan to Improve AMC's Warfighting Support for the Combatant Commander by Re-Allocating C-17 Assets in Support of the White House Airlift Mission

摘要

There are many issues addressed in this paper concerning AMC airlift provided in support of White House. Current and future airlift capacity does not allow Air Mobility Command (AMC) to provide the President of the United States (POTUS) a level of airlift support commensurate with his national and international commitments without significantly impacting warfighting capability. The primary purpose of this paper is to recommend a plan to improve Air Mobility Command's warfighting support for the Combatant Commander's by re- allocating C-17 assets. This research specifically addresses Special Assignment Airlift Missions (SAAMs) that fall under the labels of Phoenix Banner (Presidential), Phoenix Silver (Vice-Presidential), Phoenix Copper (First Lady and other VIP's as directed), and missions that are flown to directly support these missions typically labeled as AMC Support Missions. The research method employed in this study included a review of Air Force historical documents and an analysis of Air Mobility Command provided data. A number of charts regarding White House support missions are derived from this raw data. These charts reveal trends over specific periods of time allowing three distinct growth periods to be identified. A parallel decrease in AMC heavy airlift assets is compared to these growth periods presenting the reader with an impetus for change. The major conclusion drawn from this research is that one particular change can greatly improve the current banner system. It is a change in the heavy airlift aircraft beddown structure. The results support a change in AMC's infrastructure by reallocating C-17 aircraft to a Super C-17 Squadron at Andrews AFB, MD.