A Modeling Framework for Optimizing U.S. Air Force Fighter Pilot Access to Advanced Training Ranges

Dara Gold, Bart E. Bennett, Bradley DeBlois, Ronald G. McGarvey, Anna Jean Wirth

ToolPublished Sep 24, 2020

The 2018 National Defense Strategy emphasizes the need for the United States to restore warfighting readiness and field a lethal force capable of defeating aggression by a major power. One element of meeting this goal is enabling units to train in an environment that is sufficiently representative of the threats posed by a major power. For U.S. Air Force (USAF) fighter pilots, this means training at ranges with appropriate airspace, threat emitters, targets, and electronic support measures. Currently, few USAF training ranges have the capabilities to provide fighter pilots with adequate training.

The USAF is now developing a plan to upgrade some of its existing ranges with capabilities required to provide advanced training (beyond just fifth-generation fighters) and is considering potential fighter squadron restationing options that would improve access to upgraded training ranges.

This tool presents the technical details of an optimization model to analyze the effectiveness of these options.

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Gold, Dara, Bart E. Bennett, Bradley DeBlois, Ronald G. McGarvey, and Anna Jean Wirth, A Modeling Framework for Optimizing U.S. Air Force Fighter Pilot Access to Advanced Training Ranges. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2020. https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TLA169-1.html.
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This research was commissioned by the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy and conducted by the Resource Management Program within RAND Project AIR FORCE.

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