Major Robert L. Charlesworth, Usaf
The purpose of this research is to recommend a relaxation of the airlift operations’ doctrinal definition of the hub-and-spoke concept to allow for inclusion of a regional hub in-theater. To justify this recommendation, a case study methodology is used to compare performance of the intratheater airlift channel system as it existed in Iraq in February 2004 to a model channel system created using a regional hub heuristic. The two channel systems are compared using dependent variables designed to characterize efficiency, effectiveness, and adherence to the logistics principle of simplicity. The channel system created using a regional hub heuristic is more efficient by about 8 percent and more effective by 48 percent. Comparisons of adherence to the logistics principle of simplicity are inconclusive.
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