The Civil Reserve Air Fleet

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet
Author: U S Government Accountability Office (G
Publisher: BiblioGov
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2013-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781289233761

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program is designed to provide the Department of Defense (DOD) with commercial aircraft to augment military airlift during peacetime and wartime emergencies. CRAF is composed of civil air carriers that contract not only their aircraft but also their operating and support personnel and facilities. The program is economically feasible because it provides DOD with emergency airlift capability without buying the aircraft, paying personnel costs, or flying and maintaining aircraft during peacetime. Since its inception in 1952, CRAF has been tested numerous times in exercises designed to evaluate its responsiveness to airlift emergencies without actually activating the fleet. The most recent comprehensive exercise, Scarlet Scarf, showed that normal peacetime airlift management procedures for CRAF were adequate for management in wartime. Improvements instituted as a result of the exercise should assure continued responsiveness of the program. The Military Airlift Command has identified 220 airfields in or near North America, Europe, and the Eastern Pacific that are suitable, to some extent, for CRAF operations. Considering military and civilian assets, it appears that equipment will be available and adequate to support CRAF operations. Major CRAF modification programs are being directed toward production of wide-body passenger-type aircraft. Action is being taken to ensure the availability of NATO civil aircraft in emergencies. (RRS)

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet
Author: United States. General Accounting Office
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1978
Genre: Airlift, Military
ISBN:

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program is designed to provide the Department of Defense (DOD) with commercial aircraft to augment military airlift during peacetime and wartime emergencies. CRAF is composed of civil air carriers that contract not only their aircraft but also their operating and support personnel and facilities. The program is economically feasible because it provides DOD with emergency airlift capability without buying the aircraft, paying personnel costs, or flying and maintaining aircraft during peacetime. Since its inception in 1952, CRAF has been tested numerous times in exercises designed to evaluate its responsiveness to airlift emergencies without actually activating the fleet. The most recent comprehensive exercise, Scarlet Scarf, showed that normal peacetime airlift management procedures for CRAF were adequate for management in wartime. Improvements instituted as a result of the exercise should assure continued responsiveness of the program. The Military Airlift Command has identified 220 airfields in or near North America, Europe, and the Eastern Pacific that are suitable, to some extent, for CRAF operations. Considering military and civilian assets, it appears that equipment will be available and adequate to support CRAF operations. Major CRAF modification programs are being directed toward production of wide-body passenger-type aircraft. Action is being taken to ensure the availability of NATO civil aircraft in emergencies. (RRS).

A History of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet

A History of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet
Author: Theodore Joseph Crackel
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2016-02-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781530050550

This is the story of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) from its inception to 1991. In suggesting such a reserve airlift fleet in 1947, Admiral E. S. Land, President of the Air Transport Association, drew on the organization's experience with mobilization planning in the mid- to late-1930s and on the airlines' experience in the early months of World War II. "As I see it," he said, "we would have to face it along the same general lines as we did then, omitting as many of the mistakes as possible, of course. At the beginning of the last war, the air transport system had a detailed war plan. Given the necessary information from the military services as to their needs, we can develop this one." The Civil Reserve Air Fleet concept was formally approved on December 15, 1951-by a memorandum of understanding between the Departments of Commerce and Defense. It began to take shape in 1952, when it was allocated some 300 four-engine, airline aircraft for use in case of war or a national emergency. Planning for the use of these assets began almost immediately and interim arrangements were in place by mid-1953. Still, it was not until 1958 that a formal wartime organization was agreed to, and not until 1959 that the first major carrier signed the standby contract that obligated it to provide crews and aircraft in case of a major war or national emergency. Two factors clearly shape the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. The first, the nation's military strategies, dictated the airlift resources CRAF was asked to supply. As it happened, evolving strategies entailed an ever growing requirement for CRAF airlift. By the late 1950s, U.S. military strategy promised the ability to respond across the spectrum of aggression, and then, two decades later, it committed the nation to an increasingly rapid deployment of forces to NATO. The second factor was economic, the economics of the air transportation marketplace. Despite the efforts of the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) and, its successor, the Military Airlift Command (MAC) to influence the make-up of airline fleets-in particular attempts to encourage the airlines to increase their cargo capability-it was the circumstances of the commercial marketplace that drove the decisions. When the air freight business failed to grow as expected, and when the lower-lobe capacity of the airlines' widebody jets proved capable of handling what air freight there was, the scheduled airlines began to divest themselves of their freighter aircraft. MAC's efforts to halt or even to slow this process proved ineffectual. It was not until the development of the air express parcel business, that the industry began once again to add cargo aircraft. Again, it was the economic forces that intervened, not MAC. This is the story of the evolution of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet-from its roots in the pre-World War II planning of the ATA and the Army Air Corps Staff, through its creation in 1951 and its evolution over the years, to a seemingly troubled existence in 1987.

Emergency Airlift

Emergency Airlift
Author: U S Government Accountability Office (G
Publisher: BiblioGov
Total Pages: 50
Release: 2013-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781289255060

GAO reviewed the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program to determine whether: (1) the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to ensure that CRAF was ready for mobilization were sufficient and effective; and (2) commercial carriers were prepared to support CRAF aircraft, particularly at foreign airfields. GAO found that it was uncertain whether CRAF could effectively meet DOD mobilization requirements because: (1) Military Airlift Command (MAC) tests of the program through simulation and field exercises were very limited; (2) DOD had provided limited mobilization planning data to CRAF carriers, making it very difficult for the carriers to plan for utilization of the system in an emergency; (3) MAC had not sufficiently monitored carrier compliance with contract provisions designed to help ensure effective mobilization; and (4) the incompatibility of data communications services at some military airfields with existing commercial services could hinder effective communications. GAO also found that, at overseas airfields, CRAF might not get the support needed because responsible carriers were unaware of the estimated work load for each location. Having allies provide this support under host-nation support agreements is an option that DOD is pursuing.

Civil Reserve Air Fleet Support Program

Civil Reserve Air Fleet Support Program
Author: Robert E. Athay
Publisher:
Total Pages: 21
Release: 1985
Genre: Airlift, Military
ISBN:

Department of Defense (DoD) plans call for the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) to carry up to 96 percent of air transportable cargoes in a major overseas deployment of U.S. Forces during war or other emergency. The civil air carriers participating in the CRAF program are contractually obligated to provide not only aircraft, but also crews, fuel, spare parts, and maintenance. The central element of existing plans to support CRAF operations is the senior lodger system. Under that system, a U.S. civil air carrier is designed as senior lodger to coordinate all support activities for CRAF aircraft at each of 39 stations in the United States and overseas. We are concerned that senior lodgers at many overseas stations could not carry out their assigned functions if CRAF were mobilized. Senior lodgers generally lack both knowledge of the volumes of traffic they would be expected to support and assured access to the necessary manpower and materiel resources. The DoD needs to take measures to assure adequate support of CRAF operations during emergencies. The DoD should seek to improve support by providing necessary policy guidance for CRAF by means of a DoD Directive, developing plans for utilizing and supporting civil aircraft not currently included in the CRAF program, devising a mobile maintenance program, and providing better assurance of adequate fuel supplies.

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet
Author: United States Accounting Office (GAO)
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2018-06-26
Genre:
ISBN: 9781721937776

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet: An Effective Program To Meet Defense Emergency Airlift Requirements