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We consider the use of the new C-130J-30 aircraft for long distance (strategic) cargo movement. Currently, only large aircraft, the C-5 and the C-17, are identified as strategic airlift assets by the United States Air Force. Our mathematical model identifies all logical airframe combinations to perform a cargo movement given a set of constraints. Using previously developed routing algorithms and fuel metrics, we evaluated the combinations and calculated the potential savings had the most fuel efficient combination been selected. Analyzing 1 month of historic data for four long distance routes, our proposed model suggests that savings could have been more than one million dollars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advises Army leaders to return to previously successful strategies of influence to articulate a collaborative vision for the future of air mobility. By underscoring the requirement for multiservice capabilities to deliver personnel and matériel wherever they are needed, US air mobility can once again become a strategic force multiplier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the strategic and tactical airlift techniques of the U.S. Air Force. It mentions that the swiftness and flexibility of the U.S. Air Force is the key to execute a rapid global mobility strategy. It notes that the operational effectiveness and efficiency of military air transportation relies on the expertise and intuition of mobility planners of the Air Mobility Command (AMC).

Background: Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATTs) are integral to the U.S. Air Force aeromedical evacuation paradigm. The current study was conducted to evaluate predictors of nontechnical skills (NOTECHS) in CCATT trainees.Methods: Sixteen CCATTs were studied over a 6-month period. Team members completed a biographical survey and teams were videotaped during a simulated CCATT mission. Teams and individuals were assigned a "red flag score" using a validated assessment tool for NOTECHS. Salivary cortisol levels were measured at baseline and pre- and postsimulation exercises.Results: 63% of participants reported regular intensive care unit (ICU) experience and 67% had flown real-world CCATT missions. Sixteen simulated missions were reviewed, with 69 crisis events identified. Task saturation was observed in 42% of crisis events. Average team red flag score correlated with task saturation during the simulated missions (odds ratio = 0.5). Daily ICU experience (p < 0.03) and previous deployment (p < 0.04) correlated with NOTECHS performance. Cortisol levels increased from baseline as the result of the simulation (p < 0.01) but did not correlate with red flag scores or biographical data.Conclusions: Task saturation occurred frequently and correlated with performance of NOTECHS. Previous real-world CCATT experience and daily ICU care correlated with improved performance of NOTECHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an argument that there must be an agile command relationship in place between U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) with regard to the use of C-17s in support of intratheater airlift augmentation. It describes the importance of the relationship between USTRANSCOM and USSOCOM in enabling the Air Force to meet a growing airlift requirement. An additional airlift and air-drop capability that C-17 would provide is also expected.

Objectives: Describe the characteristics/enroute care of casualties transported by USAF Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATT) during Operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). Methods: Retrospective review of TRAC²ES and CCATT Mission Reports (Oct 2001 May 2006). Results: 3492 patient moves (2439 patients). Moves by route: within Area of Responsibility (AOR5 (n = 261): AOR-Landstuhl (LRMC) (11 = 1995), Germany-CONUS (n = 1188). For AOR LRMC: BI (64%), NBI (8%). Disease (25%). Among injured (n = 1491), 69%, suffered polytrauma. primarily d/t explosions. Injury area: extremities (63%). head (55%). thorax (46%), abdomen (31% ). neck ( 17% ). Injury type: soft tissue (64%), orthopedic (45%). thoracic (35%). skull fracture (27%), brain injury (25% ). Disease Diagnoses: cardiac (15%) and pulmonary (8%). Conclusions: This is the first analysis of OEF/OIF CCATT patients. Phase I of this study demonstrates the strengths and limitations of TRAC²ES and CCATT Mission Reports to describe the characteristics/enroute care of this unique population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE:: The provision of sophisticated medical care in an austere environment is challenging. During and after a mass casualty event, it is likely that critical care services will be needed beyond an intensive care unit (ICU) setting. The objective of this article is to explore existing ICU care systems such as military aeromedical transport that may be applicable to disaster medicine and to providing critical care outside of an ICU setting.RESULTS:: The U.S. Air Force Critical Care Aeromedical Transport (CCAT) Teams were developed in 1994 in response to an unmet military need for long-range air transport of critically ill and injured patients. This system has transported several thousand ICU patients and is an applicable model for the future development of extrahospital critical care capabilities needed during a disaster. We also discuss civilian aeromedical critical care systems, the types of medical devices used, and their applicability to disaster medical response.CONCLUSION:: The U.S. Air Force CCAT Team program, as well as many civilian critical care air ambulance services, provides a workable starting point for the development of disaster medical critical care response capabilities for disaster medical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each month, the United States Air Force''s Air Mobility Command is responsible for designing a large-scale air mobility network—called the channel route network—that is used to transport military personnel and cargo throughout the world. Traditionally, planning the channel route network has been a manual process, requiring numerous hours to generate a monthly channel route schedule. We formulate the monthly channel route scheduling problem using a traditional network design formulation, and we use price-directive decomposition to overcome tractability issues. The resulting linear programming bounds on the optimal integer solution are weak. To overcome these challenges, we apply a variable redefinition technique known as composite variable modelling. Using this technique, we alleviate the need to explicitly include cargo flow decisions by implicitly capturing them in the design variables. The resulting formulation is computationally superior to the traditional network design formulation because it achieves tighter bounds, allowing excellent integer solutions to be found quickly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Efficient allocation of aircraft and aircrews to transportation missions is an important priority at the USAF Air Mobility Command (AMC), where airlift demand must increasingly be met with less capacity and at lower cost. In addition to presenting a formidable optimization problem, the AMC resource management problem is complicated by the fact that it is situated in a continuously executing environment. Mission requests are received (and must be acted upon) incrementally, and, once allocation decisions have been communicated to the executing agents, subsequent opportunities for optimizing resource usage must be balanced against the cost of solution change. In this paper, we describe the technical approach taken to this problem in the AMC barrel allocator, a scheduling tool developed to address this problem and provide support for day-to-day allocation and management of AMC resources. The system utilizes incremental and configurable constraint-based search procedures to provide a range of automated and semi-automated scheduling capabilities. Most basically, the system provides an efficient solution to the fleet scheduling problem. More importantly to continuous operations, it also provides techniques for selectively reoptimizing to accommodate higher priority missions while minimizing disruption to most previously scheduled missions, and for selectively “merging” previously planned missions to minimize nonproductive flying time. In situations where all mission requirements cannot be met, the system can generate and compare alternative constraint relaxation options. The barrel allocator technology is currently transitioning into operational use within AMC''s Tanker/Airlift Control Center (TACC). A version of the barrel allocator supporting airlift allocation was first incorporated as an experimental module of the AMC''s Consolidated Air Mobility Planning System (CAMPS) in September 2000. In May 2003, a new tanker allocation module is scheduled for initial operational release to users as part of CAMPS Release 5.4. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We describe a large-scale linear programming model for optimizing strategic (intercontinental) airlift capability. The model routes cargo and passengers through a specified transportation network with a given fleet of aircraft subject to many physical and policy constraints. The time-dynamic model captures a significant number of the important aspects of an airlift system in a large-scale military deployment, including aerial refueling, tactical (intercontinental) aircraft shuttles, and constraints based on crew availability. The model is designed to provide insight into issues associated with designing and operating an airlift system. We describe analyses for the U.S. Air Force system concerning fleet modernization and concerning the allocation of resources that affect the processing capacity of airfields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on a decision by the Air Force to transfer C-130 airplanes from the Air Mobility Command to Air Combat Command. Comparison between the two commands; History of the military airlift system; Results of a consolidated airlift system.

This article focuses on the collaboration between the Airlift Command of the U.S. Air Force with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop and deploy the Airlift Deployment Analysis System. The system provided a set of decision support tools to manage information on cargo and passengers to be moved and the available resources as well as tools to schedule missions. The challenge is to schedule aircraft, crew and mission support resources to maximize the on-time delivery of cargo and passengers. The result of the partnership between developers and flow planners was an integrated system that flow planners could use to enter and evaluate cargo- and passenger-movement requests; to allocate airlift resources, including aircraft availability, aircraft characteristics, crews, airfield resources and airlift network configurations.

Discusses the creation of an execution planning algorithm to solve the problem of modifying the existing airlift operations plan of the United States Air Force on a daily basis. Characterization of the airlift problem and its constraints; Selection of the insertion heuristic-based algorithm; Implementation issues; Flexibility of the algorithm.

Discusses the creation of an algorithm to help the United States Air Force Military Airlift Command maximize aircraft loads to best utilize each aircraft. Objectives of the deliberate planning problem; Requirements of load planning; Variables factored into the aircraft assignment algorithm.