Towards Better Airlift forward Operating Base Establishment and Control

In OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF), forward operating bases with airfields were essential to ground forces and to the Air Force. This is likely to be a common feature of future campaigns, and in OIF there were two important new developments in this area. The Global Assessment Teams (GATs) and the Regional Air Movement Control Center (RAMCC) contributed greatly to improving the Air Force's Rapid Global Mobility decisive capability. The GATs were a new concept born of recognized shortcomings in OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF). In OIF, the GATs bridged the gap between seizure forces and airbase opening forces, thereby improving joint military operations and warfighting effectiveness. After these forward air bases were opened up during OIF, there were problems with exceeding their capacity and there were air safety concerns. For the first time a RAMCC was tasked with integrating and deconflicting military airlift schedules during major combat operations. The RAMCC also went on to integrate civilian operations as it had done for previous conflicts.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.