USAF Civil Reserve Air Fleet Aeromedical Evacuation Airlift Capability

摘要

The Department of Defense, USAF, and Air Mobility Command (AMC) rely on the CivilReserve Air Fleet (CRAF) to provide supplemental airlift in times of national emergency. AMC oversees the CRAF program which contains three segments: international, national, and aeromedical evacuation. The CRAF Aeromedical Evacuation (AE) program involves commercial B-767 aircraft, Aeromedical Evacuation Shipsets (AESS), a Casualty Transfer System, and a large number of support personnel and equipment. Wartime planning in the early 198Os revealed a significant shortage of military airlift to accomplish the aeromedical evacuation mission. Consequently the CRAF AE program was initiated. Planning for Major Regional Conflict scenarios has currently set a requirement for 25 and 44 B-767 aircraft for CRAF Stages II and III, respectively. Unfortunately AMC has not been able to acquire full commitment to the CRAF AE program. In addition, the CRAF AE program has been beleaguered by a number of problems which have continually kept capability of the overall system low. This graduate research paper provides a comprehensive review of the AE shortfall issue from beginning to the present with recommendations and conclusions for the near future.