United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-07-06 monographic deposited born digital 37 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-00-164 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-164 P0b002ee180389177 f:ns00164 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-164 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-164 NSIAD-00-164 Defense contingency planning Combat readiness Defense capabilities Mobilization Military aircraft Military training Human resources utilization Armed forces abroad Kosovo (Serbia) Bosnia EA-6B Aircraft Airborne Warning and Control System U-2 Aircraft F-16C/J Aircraft Letter Report NSIAD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the services' ability to continuously meet the challenges posed by contingency operations, focusing on six military assets that have been heavily used in contingency operations in a series of case studies.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) the military assets GAO examined in the case studies continue to be in high demand relative to their numbers; (2) this has resulted in deployments in excess of deployment goals; (3) to ease the strain on these assets, the Department of Defense and the military services are taking a number of actions, which are described below along with GAO's assessment of them; (4) four of the Army's 10 active divisions and 1 of its 8 National Guard divisions were being affected by operations in the Balkans as of January 2000; (5) the Army has begun to use National Guard divisions to relieve the strain on active divisions and allow them to focus on their primary mission of being prepared for major war; (6) however, preparing the first Guard division that deployed to Bosnia required considerable effort, including the conversion of substantial numbers of Guard personnel to full-time status; (7) the Army does not have enough active-duty civil affairs capability to meet current requirements with its one 208-person active-duty unit, and until recently, there were concerns about having enough reserve civil affairs personnel to meet requirements in the Balkans; (8) the Navy and the Marine Corps each have four land-based EA-6B squadrons; (9) however, these squadrons together are unable to meet all requirements without exceeding their deployment goal of having twice as much at home station as the amount of time deployed; (10) the Air Force could meet current requirements for Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft and crews without exceeding its 120-day annual deployment goal if all 40 of its staffed crews were fully trained and available for worldwide deployments; (11) however, only 27 of its 40 crews are fully trained, and increasing this supply is problematic because of inadequate simulator training capabilities; (12) the Air Force has only 40 of its 54 authorized U-2 pilots fully trained; (13) this shortage of fully trained pilots has led to historically high deployment rates; (14) the Air Force has relayed certain requirements to attract and keep its U-2 pilots, however challenges remain and continued careful management of the use of these aircraft will be needed; (15) F-16CJ squadrons, particularly those stationed in the United States, have been one of the most utilized fighter squadrons for the past few years; and (16) however due to its part-time nature, the F-16CJ reserve component squadron unit will be able to cover only about 30 days of the rotation between it and the older squadron of less capable aircraft. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-164/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-164.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-164/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-164.pdf GAO/NSIAD-00-164 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-164 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-00-164; Contingency Operations: Providing Critical Capabilities; Defense contingency planning Combat readiness Defense capabilities Mobilization Military aircraft Military training Human resources utilization Armed forces abroad Kosovo (Serbia) Bosnia EA-6B Aircraft Airborne Warning and Control System U-2 Aircraft F-16C/J Aircraft