Capability of the Air Mobility Fleet to Adequately Support Army Transformation Requirements

The current plan to procure only 134 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft to replace the C-141 fleet will not meet U.S. wartime requirements for core strategic airlift. Although the C-17 is now exceeding design expectations the fleet will not provide enough core airlift volume for the United States in the 21 Century. The Army will support Phase I of the Army Transformation as it stands up two Initial Brigade Combat teams. These brigades will have the capability of being deployed anywhere in the world in 96 hours from first aircraft wheels tip. Units are being formed with off-the-shelf capabilities and lessons learned from operational experience and the Army's Experimentation Campaign Plan. This thesis examines the ability of our current and future airlift fleet to project and sustain U.S. power abroad as changes are identified in the Army's Transformation process.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA Graduate School of Business and Publicpolicy is the author of 'Capability of the Air Mobility Fleet to Adequately Support Army Transformation Requirements', published 2002 under ISBN 9781423510338 and ISBN 142351033X.