Over the past few years, the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Air Force have become increasingly concerned with countering an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy. The U.S. military as a global power must typically project power over long distances and operate from forward bases. Aerial refueling is a critical capability enabling Air Force power projection and forward employment operations. Denying access and basing is likely to be a critical component of a potential adversarys strategy wishing to disrupt U.S. power projection. The research reported here was commissioned by the Air Force Air Mobility Command, Strategic Plans and Programs (AF AMC/A5/8), and conducted within the Force Modernization and Employment Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE as part of a fiscal year 2017 core funded project, Tankers and Airlift in Future Anti-Access/Area Denial Environments, to evaluate the capability of the Mobility Air Forces (MAF) to support combat operations in an A2/AD environment in the 2030 time frame. The main focus was on aerially refueling tankers. As part of this work, we developed a model, tanKer Air Refueling Model for Analysis (KARMA), to evaluate tanker operations in detail and assess the capability of the fleet to support required combat sorties. The main purpose of this report is to record the algorithmic details of KARMA and explain the inputs and outputs of the model. This report will be of use to anyone who wishes to use KARMA to assess sortie generation capabilities in a war scenario where resources may be limited because of diminished aerial refueling capacity or air base attack. We hope that it will be of particular use to planners, operators, and analysts at Air Mobility Command who are involved with tanker operations.
TanKer Aerial Refueling Model for Analysis (KARMA)
2019
68 pages
Report
No indication
English
Aerial Refueling Tanker and Receiver Similarity Criteria
NTIS | 2023
|Air Force Procurement. Aerial Refueling Tanker Protest
NTIS | 2008
|TANKER AIRCRAFT REFUELING SYSTEMS
SAE Technical Papers | 1953
|