CRAF: Will it be There in the Future?

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet CRAF was created in 1951 to augment a military air fleet that did not have the capability to move the volume of personnel and equipment needed in an airlift emergency. In todays new world order, CRAF is still important to the U.S. for power projection to regional crises. Is CRAF ready to meet the demands of our new strategic environment Even though CRAF was not activated until Desert Shield and Desert Storm, there have been several changes to the original structure in an effort to entice carrier participation in this voluntary program. CRAF was key to the successful deployment in Desert Shield but there were problems discovered with its activation. The military and industry have been working together since then to introduce new incentives to ease the burden for carriers and maintain CRAFs viability in the future. The number of carriers currently participating in program affirm the value of their efforts. In the volatile world environment, however, there are several changes that can still be made to make the CRAF even stronger, most importantly, the inclusion of logisticians in the early stages of the planning process. As the military and industry continue to strive to improve the program, CRAF is more than capable of contributing to increasing demands of our new strategic environment well into the future. Strategic Mobility, Civil Reserve Air Fleet.