A Conceptual Framework for More Effectively Integrating Combat Support Capabilities and Constraints into Contingency Planning and Execution

Abstract : Planners for contingency operations generally assume that sufficient combat support (CS) resources will be available to support operational plans. This assumption carries a degree of risk: Budgetary constraints, the inability to perfectly predict demands, the variability in supply processes, the possibility of multiple unplanned contingency operations taking place simultaneously, and other factors mean that there will always be imbalances between the global CS resources available and those requested to meet operational demands. Combatant commanders (CCDRs) and their component commands often lack information about global CS resource availabilities and constraints. Part of the challenge, from an Air Force perspective, is that the operations and CS communities do not have a cohesive approach (including doctrine, processes, analytic tools, training regimen, and organizations) to systematically include CS resource capabilities and constraints within the contingency planning process. Processes and assessment capabilities that relate CS resource availabilities/capabilities and constraints to operationally relevant metrics exist within some CS functional communities (e.g. munitions), but not others (e.g., impacts of casualties on operationally relevant metrics, such as sortie generation). The Air Force has not developed the processes and tools needed to assess the impact of resource capabilities and constraints across the diverse set of CS resources and to determine the integrated impact of these capabilities or constraints on operational plans.