Skip to main content

Defense Transportation: Operational Support Airlift Requirements Are Not Sufficiently Justified

NSIAD-00-126 Published: Apr 27, 2000. Publicly Released: May 30, 2000.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) operational support airlift aircraft requirement, focusing on: (1) whether the existing requirement for operational support airlift aircraft is linked to wartime needs; and (2) the process DOD used to determine its requirements for these aircraft.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense In order to improve the visibility of the process and better link the airlift requirements setting process with wartime needs, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop formal guidance establishing a process that clearly: (1) links the inventory of operational support airlift more closely to the wartime requirements of DOD's combatant commands and military services; (2) explains the basis for underlying assumptions; (3) identifies the factors and assumptions that should be updated during each annual validation; and (4) defines the responsibilities of participating entities and requires documentation to support the result of the analysis.
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD concurred with the recommendation. However, DOD's involvement in the Global War on Terrorism has limited the availability of staff to work the issues. They continue to agree that this is important, but have not sufficient resources to complete the work necessary to implement the recommendation.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should reexamine the requirement to conduct annual revalidations and: (1) change the requirement if it is determined to be too stringent; or (2) hold the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff accountable to that standard if it is deemed appropriate.
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD concurred with the recommendation. The Joint Staff requested that Directive 4500.43 be revised to reflect a 2-year cycle for assessing/validating Operational Support Airlift requirements. However, action has not been completed.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

Combat readinessDefense contingency planningLogisticsMilitary aircraftMilitary airlift operationsAircraftSupport aircraftU.S. Air ForceU.S. ArmyAirports