The AEF Process: The Key to Crisis Response?

Following the Cold War, the United States reduced the size of its military. Much of the remaining force became home-based in the United States. The downsized Air Force had remained continually engaged in combat operations since 1991. In an effort to manage the operations tempo for Airmen and critical Air Force equipment, the Air Force implemented the Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) process. This process helped to better utilize the Air Force’s limited assets while meeting the requirements of the Geographic Combatant Commands (GCC). Each AEF force package possesses capabilities to perform across the full spectrum of military operations. The AEF process enables the Air Force to present forces to a GCC rapidly in times of crisis. This paper examines how the AEF process improves the capabilities that the Air Force deploys to a crisis. To accomplish this, the paper performs a comparative analysis of crisis response with and without using the AEF process. Operation DESERT SHIELD provides an example of the Air Force’s response to a crisis without the AEF. This historic case study is compared to a hypothetical response to a similar regional conventional crisis that utilizes the AEF process. This case study utilizes the joint functions—command and control, intelligence, movement and maneuver, fires, protection and sustainment—to analyze the Air Force’s capabilities in these scenarios. This paper analyzes shortfalls in Air Force capabilities during the deployment to DESERT SHIELD. While many of those shortfalls have been corrected, these improvements cannot all be attributed to the implementation of the AEF process. Some of these improvements were a result of doctrinal changes and organizational improvements. Even though the AEF process does not improve the Air Force’s capabilities in a crisis response, it does continue to be a effective force management tool that improves the utilization and availability of Air Force capabilities while providing airpower rapidly to respond to a crisis situation.