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In addition to its intended use as a rapid response capability, the Army's portion of the GRF has a role on longer time lines.

Multiple, complex deployment concepts are necessary to ensure global coverage.

• Airborne insertion of early-entry forces can arrive from great distances on various types of lift.

The GRF needs use of intermediate staging bases to ensure global coverage for their missions.

• Accessing austere bases with limited infrastructure will be necessary for global coverage.

Force packaging and initial- and follow-on force flows drive aircraft demands and ISB selection.

• There is wide-variation in sizes of the forces, depending on multiple factors.
• GRF requirement for strategic lift can be reasonable, given the availability of aircraft.
• Mustering airdrop-qualified crews does not seem to be a problem.

Plans, planning, exercises, and site preparation are rarely applied to GRF operations.

• Realistic exercises, and habitual planning, are key to validating the GRF's capabilities.

The Global Response Force (GRF) is built for rapid response to unforeseen or, more specifically, unplanned operations. Selected Army airborne forces provide a large portion of the GRF and are dependent on joint concepts for deployment and access. This study illustrates a method for determining the best access strategies given constraints in aircraft, intermediate staging bases, operational capabilities, and other factors. The study applies this method to each geographic combatant command and develops specific, tailored strategies for each.

The access strategies are built from multiple analytic techniques: historical aircraft data and platform specifications to determine capabilities and limitations of the air fleet; several airfield databases, site reports, and expert judgments to determine probable intermediate staging base locations and their likely capabilities; multiple deployment concepts for access to minimize operational risks; and detailed geographic and operational analysis to determine global coverage and reach. In the end, we were able to deduce a preferred strategy for each of the combatant commands.

Global access for the GRF is provided partially through the use of well-established staging bases but will necessarily rely on austere basing and complex deployment concepts for particular locations in multiple combatant commands. The study concludes with several recommendations to close those risks, which span the services, combatant commands, and joint staff.

• Chapter One

  Background

• Chapter Two

  Scenarios and Force Packages

• Chapter Three

  Deployment Concepts

• Chapter Four

  Lift and Airfield Considerations for Access Timing

• Chapter Five

  Contingency Location and ISB Selection

• Chapter Six

  Toward a USAFRICOM Access Strategy

• Chapter Seven

  Toward a USCENTCOM Access Strategy

• Chapter Eight

  Toward a USPACOM Access Strategy

• Chapter Nine

  Toward a USSOUTHCOM Access Strategy

• Chapter Ten

  Toward a USEUCOM Access Strategy

• Chapter Eleven

  Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

• Appendix A

  Selected Sources of Data

• Appendix B

  Aircraft Ranges Used in Calculations

• Appendix C

  ICAO Codes